Two Worlds Meet
by Purple Astro1
Summary: Matt's cousin is over for a visit, but when Gennai calls them, is something else going on?
1. First Destiny

Ok, this is definitely the oddest crossover I've ever heard of...It's also more or less the first I've written. The first two chapters are about my character's ties to the two groups. They probably won't actually meet until the third, but who knows? Anyway, please send feedback! I love feedback!  
  
First Destiny  
  
  
"Matt, wait up!"  
Matt glanced back to see TK running towards him.  
"TK, what's up?"  
"Did you forget? It's the six months anniversary. We were supposed to get together tonight."  
"Oh, man...TK, I completely forgot. Listen, though. Do you remember, when we were little, our cousin Caitlyn?"  
"Caitlyn? I don't think so. Who is she?"  
"She's Dad's niece. You know, Aunt Carol's daughter."  
"Oh, Aunt Carol? Who married Dad's brother Steve?"  
"That's her. Anyway, Uncle Steve called Dad a few days ago. He's in town for a while, and he wanted to know if I'd meet up with Caitlyn and show her around a bit."  
"Tonight?" Matt nodded.   
"They just got into town this afternoon. TK, I'll call and tell him I can't tonight."  
"No, it's ok. Hey, you could bring her!"  
"I don't think Tai would like that very much, TK, we couldn't really talk if she was there." TK nodded at that.  
"I guess. It won't be the same if we're not all there, though."  
"Look, I'll try and get her home early, that way I could still come for some of the evening. Will you apologise to everyone for me?"  
"Sure. See you later, Matt."  
"See you, TK."  
  
  
Matt knocked-not very loudly-on the door of the hotel room. Privately, he hoped that she wouldn't hear him, then he could go meet his friends. He was disappointed when the door opened a little.  
"Yamato?"  
"That's me. Caitlyn?" The door closed, the lock slid off, and it opened again, all the way this time.  
"That'd be me. Come in, I'm not quite ready yet." Matt closed the door, studying the girl in front of him. She had dark red hair that fell halfway down her back, and deep green eyes. She was about sixteen, a little older than him.  
"So...it's been a while."  
"It has. What were you, six? The last time I saw you?"  
"I think so. You were about eight, weren't you?"  
"I think so. And TK, he was only two."  
"Yeah. He wants to meet you, if we have time." That was a lie, but he knew TK would go along with it. Caitlyn straightened from where she'd been fiddling with her bag and studied him for a long minute.  
"Is something wrong?" Matt asked, feeling slightly uneasy. Caitlyn shook her head.  
"No, just...if you don't mind, let's not stay out too late? I'm still kind of jetlagged."  
"Sure. Can I just make a quick phone call?"  
"Go ahead." Matt dialled quickly.  
"TK, put Tai on." He listened for a few seconds, then he said, "Because his battery ran flat this afternoon. Just put him on, TK!" After a moment, he went on, "Tai? Listen, do you guys mind if I bring my cousin for a quick visit? Yeah, I know, but only for a little while. Thanks, Tai!" He hung up. "Are you ready? They're in a café a couple of blocks from here. We'll meet them, you can have a cup of tea, we'll come back here nice and early."  
"Just because I live in the United Kingdom...and not even the United Kingdom, Ireland...does not mean I automatically drink tea, y'know."  
"You drank tea when you were eight years old." Matt protested.  
"I don't anymore. It's bad for you. Caffeine."  
"Fine. I'll have the tea, you can have water. Ok?"  
"Fine." Then she grinned suddenly. "I'm just teasing, Matt. I'm sorry. Forgive me?"  
"Sure."  
  
  
"Matt! Over here!" Tai said, bobbing out of his seat. Matt pointed towards them and whispered something to the girl with him, then they both made their way across to the booth. Everyone squished in to make room for them.  
"Guys, this is my cousin Caitlyn. Caitlyn, that's Tai, Sora, Mimi, Joe, Izzy, Tai's sister Kari, and you know TK."  
"That's never TK." Caitlyn said in surprise. "TK's two years old!"  
"No, not any more." TK said cheerfully.  
"All grown up? You probably don't remember me, do you." TK stared at her for a minute.  
"Kind of. I remember Matt crying when you went home." Everyone turned to look at Matt.  
"You *cried*, Matt?" Tai asked. Matt reached across the crowded table and gave him a shove.  
"Leave off! I was only six then." Caitlyn smiled slightly, lowering her head.  
"Are you all right?" Sora asked in concern. Lifting her head again, she forced a smile.  
"I'm sorry, but could you repeat that?" Looking surprised, Sora repeated her question.  
"Yes. It's jet lag, I think. Matt, I hate to be a party pooper and I know we just got here, but could you walk me back?"  
"Sure." Matt stood up and helped her out of the booth.   
"It was nice to meet you all. I hope I can see you again before I leave."  
"You too." Mimi answered. Matt and Caitlyn left and the group began to talk among themselves again.  
  
  
The next morning, Caitlyn was waiting in the lobby when Matt arrived, accompanied by TK and Kari.  
"Tai was supposed to be watching Kari, but he wanted to play soccer, so I offered to take her with us. I didn't think you'd mind." Matt explained.  
"Not at all. How are you, Kari?"  
"Fine, thank you. Are you feeling better?"  
"Much, thank you. I think it was just the jet lag. So, Matt, where are we going?"  
"The market. It's always fun to look around."  
"Sounds like fun. You can help me pick something for my mother, Kari, I don't know much about clothes."  
"You want Mimi for that." Kari told her.  
"Oh? Mimi likes clothes?"  
"Mimi likes clothes. Now there's an understatement for you." Matt remarked.  
"But Mimi's not here." TK protested.  
"Then I guess you'll have to do, Teek." Caitlyn said. TK frowned.  
"Don't call me Teek."  
"Make me." TK chased her around for a minute, until Matt caught him.  
"TK, stop that. She's just joking with you."  
"I don't want her to call me Teek." TK sulked.  
"If you really don't want me to I won't, TK, but it's just a little joke. I give all my best friends nicknames."  
"What's Matt's?" TK challenged her.  
"Yama." she responded without blinking.  
"That's not a nickname, that's just his name."  
"How many people call him Yama?" she demanded.  
"No one, but..."  
"Then it's not his name."  
"Does it matter?" Matt asked, finally getting their attention back. "She won't call you Teek any more, TK. All right?" Caitlyn grimaced.  
"I really am sorry, TK. I didn't even think that it might upset you."  
"It's ok." Kari suddenly pulled on Caitlyn's arm.  
"Come on, there's the market!" Laughing, Caitlyn followed her into the stalls.  
  
  
Much later, Caitlyn and her cousins were lounging in her room, examining her purchases. TK was digging in a bag of what she called Knick Knacks and Matt called junk.  
"Uhh...Caitlyn? Where did you get this?" Matt looked at what he was holding and gasped. Caitlyn looked, frowned and got up, coming across to him.  
"I don't remember that at all." She picked up the small object and gasped in surprise as it started to glow. "Oohh...I don't think I like this!" Matt got to his feet.  
"Caitlyn, it's very important. Where did you get that?"  
"I told you, Matt, I don't remember it! What is it?"  
"It's a Digivice." he muttered, taking it and examining it.  
"That tells me sweet mother all, Matt. What's a Digivice?"  
"It doesn't matter right now. TK, call Izzy." TK moved towards the phone and stopped suddenly.  
"Matt, your Digivice..." Matt pulled up his top to reveal the Digivice clipped securely to his belt. It was glowing and numbers and symbols were flashing across the tiny screen.  
"Do you have yours, TK?" TK dug into his pocket until he found it. It was flashing as well. "Call Izzy, find out what's going on." TK obediently headed for the phone again. Matt turned to Caitlyn who was half-crouched beside the table, staring at the new Digivice, which Matt was still holding. "I can't explain this right now, Kit. Trust me for a little while?" She transferred her gaze to his face.  
"Of course I trust you, Yama."  
"Thank you."  
"Izzy? Is your Digivice glowing?" TK asked into the phone. He frowned slightly. "It's not? Mine and Matt's are, and mmmph!" Matt took the phone out of his hand.  
"Izzy, can you call Mimi and Joe and ask them? I'll call Tai and Sora. Call me back in ten minutes. I'm at the hotel." He hung up and immediately dialled again. TK looked at Caitlyn, who'd sunk to the floor and was gripping her head.  
"Caitlyn, are you ok?"  
"I'm not sure, TK. Is that thing making noise?"  
"I don't think so. What kind of noise?" Matt slowly lowered the phone, leaving Tai yelling angrily on the other end.  
"Like...hundreds of people all yelling, but from very far away."  
"I don't hear anything." TK said. Matt hung up the phone and came across.  
"Here, Caitlyn." He picked up the Digivice and offered it to her, but she shied away.  
"Matt, I don't..."  
"Take it." His voice was very firm. Very, very slowly, she reached for it, and at the exact moment her fingers closed over it, there was a bright flash and all three disappeared.  
  
  
Matt slowly lifted his head. TK was lying beside him, while Caitlyn was standing nearby, staring at the forest. Matt levered himself to his feet and went across to her.  
"Caitlyn?"  
"We're not in Kansas any more, Toto." She turned back to face him and he was surprised at the lack of expression on her face. "Is TK awake yet?"  
"I don't think so. Why?"  
"It won't start until he is."  
"What won't start?"  
"The things that are supposed to happen."  
"Matt?"  
"TK." Matt half turned to look at him before turning back to Caitlyn. "What are you talking about?"  
"I wish I knew." She giggled a bit, turning away to look into the forest. Matt took half a second to note that they were in the Digital World, apparently on File Island, before he strode back to TK and got him on his feet.  
"C'mon, TK, get up."  
"I'm up. Matt, are we..."  
"Looks like it."  
"Why is Caitlyn here?"   
"Beats me." He turned back towards Caitlyn, who was now looking at something over his shoulder.  
"Matt, what is that?" Matt turned.  
"Gabumon!" The Digimon jumped into his arms.  
"Matt, I've missed you!"  
"Me too, Gabumon."  
"Is Patamon here?" TK asked excitedly.  
"He's around somewhere. He should be here pretty soon."  
"Matt, what's going on?" Caitlyn seemed to have come out of her almost-trance and was now eyeing Gabumon suspiciously.  
"Matt, who's that?" Gabumon asked.  
"Gabumon, this is my cousin Caitlyn. Caitlyn, this is Gabumon, my Digimon."  
"You have a Digital Monster?"  
"You know about Digimon?" TK asked, cutting himself off when Patamon landed on his head. "Patamon!"  
"TK!" Patamon squeaked. "Gennai's on his way here now!"  
"Good. Maybe he can explain some of this." Matt said. Gabumon was staring, wide eyed, at Caitlyn.  
"Matt, she has a Digivice." he pointed out. Caitlyn glanced at the Digivice, which was now attached to her waist.  
"We know, Gabu. That's how we got here...hers and ours were glowing, but none of the others' were." Gabumon nodded.  
"Agumon and the others didn't come, but we knew. Matt, she must be Digidestined."  
"Yes, indeed she is Digidestined, Digidestined." Gennai came out of the trees.  
"Gennai!" Caitlyn breathed, almost exactly at the same time as TK. Matt stared at her.  
"You know Gennai?"  
"Know him? Not exactly, no...what's going on here?"  
"Is there a crisis?" TK asked eagerly. Gennai chuckled.  
"Not this time, TK. I just needed to bring Caitlyn here for a while, and I figured since you two are her cousins it might be easier if you came too."  
"Why did you need to bring her here if there's nothing wrong?" Matt asked defiantly.   
"Because, Matt, we realised after the last time that it was easier on you kids if you knew about what was going on beforehand. I just wanted to introduce Caitlyn to the concept of the Digiworld, and to her Digipartner, and then you can go home."  
"Her partner?" TK repeated.  
"Well, yes. You didn't think she was going to help you on her own, did you? Gabumon, where is he?"  
"Hiding over there." Caitlyn followed Gabumon's pointing finger and moved across the clearing. At the far side she parted a few bushes.  
"Oh!" A small teddy-like Digimon came out. He basically looked exactly like a teddy bear, except for the large wings sticking out of his back.  
"Caitlyn, this is Baramon. He'll be your Digimon from now on."  
"From now on? Did I have one before?"  
"That's just the way Gennai talks. Don't worry about it. Can we go now? The others are expecting us." That was Matt, of course.   
"No, I haven't told you about her Crest yet."  
"What's a Crest? Like a family Crest?" Caitlyn looked up from Baramon.  
"No, like an emotion, usually. Matt's is Friendship, mine's Hope." TK told her.  
"What about the others?" she asked. Seeing the look Matt shot TK, she added, "Matt asked you to phone Izzy about the Digivice, and he asked Izzy to phone Joe and Mimi. He was going to call Tai and Sora...so I guess all of you and Kari are in on it."  
"I'll tell you later." Matt promised. "Gennai, what about her Crest?"  
"It's in a cave not far from here. In that direction. Baramon will know the way."  
"I will?" Baramon squeaked.  
"You'll know it when you get there. Good luck, Digidestined..." And with that he vanished.  
  
  
"So we're in a computer?"  
"I guess. I never really understood it." Matt shrugged. Caitlyn shuddered and wrapped her arms more tightly around him. They were riding on Garurumon's back, while TK was carried above them by Angemon.  
"I think we're there." Baramon said suddenly, his voice a little muffled. Garurumon slowed and Angemon landed beside them. In front of them loomed two caves.  
"Which one is it, 'Bar?" Caitlyn asked. Baramon pointed to the one on the left.  
"All right guys. Garurumon, keep your eyes open." Matt requested. Garurumon bobbed his head and the group moved slowly into the cave.  
"Man, it's narrow! Angemon, you better DeDigivolve." TK said. There was a brief flash of light and Patamon flew up to his head.  
"We're nearly there." Baramon reported. Matt had been surprised that Baramon was male, as much as any Digimon was a particular sex; Byiomon, Palmon and Gatomon were all girls, and the others were all boys. This would be the first time a Digidestined had had opposite Digimon. Now, however, it didn't seem that odd.   
The passage opened up into a large room, but Baramon moved confidently to a sort of altar at the back. A Crest glowed on it, in a yellow colour that blended almost perfectly with the Tag it hung on. The design was vaguely Celtic, a kind of trefoil. It glowed in white against the yellow background, and as Caitlyn approached it shone brighter.   
"It's beautiful!" TK said, awed.  
"What is it?" Matt asked Gabumon.  
"The rarest Crest of all, Matt, I've never heard of its' being used before. It's the Crest of Future."  
"Future what?"  
"Just Future. The legend says that it goes to someone who holds the future within themselves."  
"What does that mean?" Matt asked. At that moment Caitlyn's fingers closed over the Crest and there was another bright flash of light, and the next thing Matt knew he was staring at a very startled Tai Kamiya.  
  
"He didn't say anything, you know Gennai. Just that he wanted Caitlyn to meet Baramon and get her Crest, but nothing important was going on." Matt explained for the fourth time.  
"He must have said something." Tai protested.  
"He didn't." TK agreed with his brother. Caitlyn, who had barely spoken since they'd returned, looked up as Kari sat next to her.  
"Are you all right?"  
"Hmm? I'm sorry, I haven't been listening. Couldn't keep up with what you all were saying." She smiled. "We don't speak Japanese all the time at home."  
"I just wondered if you were all right. May I see your Crest?" Caitlyn pulled it out from under her top. The room fell silent as it glowed gently, throbbing in time with her heartbeat. "It's beautiful." Kari unknowingly echoed TK's words.  
"That's what TK said." Caitlyn said, sounding oddly wistful.  
"It is." Sora agreed. "The white, and the yellow, it's just beautiful."  
"The design is different than ours." Kari added.  
"Very fitting." Caitlyn said, smiling, "seeing that I live in Ireland now." She glanced at her watch. "My father will be back soon. And not that he won't be pleased to see you all, but we won't be able to talk if he's here."   
"Kari, what time is Mom getting home at?" Tai asked.  
"About half six I think."  
"Right, let's go to our place then."   
"I can't." Caitlyn said regretfully. "We're leaving tomorrow; my dad's going to want to spend the last evening with me, and I have to pack and everything. I'm sorry, but it's bad enough I missed the whole of yesterday."  
"Don't worry about it," Tai said, but he looked fairly mad. Caitlyn saw them out, with several more apologies and assurances that she wouldn't mention the Digiworld to anyone. Matt lingered for a minute.  
"Is something wrong, Yama?" He smiled faintly at that.  
"Did you hear what Gabumon called your Crest?"  
"Future? I was slightly distracted."  
"He said it's supposed to be owned by the one who holds the future within themselves."  
"I don't know what it means, Matt. I'm sorry." He grinned suddenly.  
"Don't be. Did you get your D-Terminal?"  
"Yes. Why?"  
"Keep in touch? We may need your help. And..." he paused for a long minute. "I'll miss you."  
"I'll miss you too, Matt. Be well." He left the hotel, leaving the newest Digidestined alone.  
  
  
So that's part one! This is nearly the shortest thing I've ever written...part two is coming up shortly! Review! Oh yeah, I don't own anything! Not even any of my own stuff!  
  
  



	2. Future Friends

Hi __

Hi! Ready for part two? That means if this is your first part, you should go back and read the first part before you read this part, although you don't really have to. Anyway, enjoy!

Future Friends

Three Years Later

Caitlyn was perched somewhat uncomfortably on a park bench, doing her best to revise for the test that afternoon. She was finding it hard to concentrate, however. Only a few metres away, her worst nightmare was standing.

Caitlyn wasn't the sort of person who normally got bullied, but then Rachel wasn't your normal sort of bully. Thin and beautiful, she seemed to get special pleasure out of making Caitlyn's life miserable. They'd been friends, a long time before, but after Caitlyn's trip to Japan three years earlier, she'd found it hard to settle back with her friends in Ireland. There had been no blazing rows; they'd simply drifted apart, nodding if they met but making no particular effort to be friendly.

Rachel, however, had taken it personally. Instead of making new friends, she'd begun stalking Caitlyn. She never came close, never even spoke, but during the day, Caitlyn could count on seeing her almost every time she looked up. It made her distracted and edgy, driving away anyone she might have made friends with.

Today, Rachel had changed her tactics slightly. Five minutes before she'd plopped down on the end on the bench, and now every time Caitlyn moved Rachel yelled at her for 'jogging the bench' or 'upsetting her concentration'. Caitlyn had moved to a different bench but it made no difference; Rachel followed her. Desperate, Caitlyn thought about going into the studyhall, where at least Rachel wouldn't be able to talk, but she was expecting an e-mail from her cousin, so she stayed put.

Five minutes, later, her D-Terminal beeped and she fished it out of her bag. Before she could open it, though, Rachel lifted it out of her hands.

"So what's this for, then?"

"E-mails. Give it back, please."

"E-mails? Can I check mine?"

"It only works from certain computers, and you can't check yours because it's not set up. Please, Rachel."

"Set it up." Rachel tossed it over to her.

"What?"

"Set it up so's I can check mine."

"It doesn't work like that..."

"Make it work like that." Rachel's voice was perfectly friendly, but her tone was menacing. With all her heart, Caitlyn wished she were somewhere else entirely.

SPLASH!

A very soggy and confused Caitlyn struggled out of the sea onto a beach. The first thing she did was check a small device attached to her belt. Apparently disappointed, she tugged off her top and looked around. 

"There you are." A gentle voice behind her made her turn. A boy only a year or so older than her stood, well out of reach, watching her.

"Where I am?" she asked, standing upright.

"Tapahini. Are you all right?"

"Confused, but other than that..."

"I get that a lot."

"Adam." she said suddenly.

"Whaat?"

"Adam. That's your name, right?"

"That's right, Caitlyn." He paused, considering her. "You don't seem very surprised."

"You're about three years too late for surprising me." she muttered.

"Sorry?"

"Nothing important. Why don't we pretend I am surprised, and you can explain to me...where did you say we are?"

"Tapahini." Adam repeated. "It's somewhere in the mid Pacific. We're not really sure exactly where."

"How'd I get here?"

"You teleported."

"I teleported? Nuh-uh. People don't just teleport on their own."

"We're not regular people, though."

"Oh yeah?" She laughed humourlessly. "Wouldn't be the first time. So tell me what makes us different."

"We're the Tomorrow People."

"The Tomorrow People."

"Right. The future of humanity, the next stage of evolution."

"Has anyone ever told you you read way too many comic books?"

"Frequently," a new voice joined in, "only it's the opposite for him. Adam never reads comics."

"No one asked you, Megabyte." Caitlyn retorted automatically.

"Whoa! Hostile?" Megabyte looked to Adam.

*She's new, Megabyte. Give her a chance.* Caitlyn spun to face him.

"You did that. Into my head."

"You shouldn't have heard that." Megabyte said cautiously. "It was just supposed to be for me."

"Well, I did. And it's not the first time, either."

"You heard that?" Adam took back control of the conversation.

"I just said that, didn't I? Is that a Tomorrow Person gimmick?"

"They're not gimmicks, and yes, we do have telepathy, but only within the group. And Megabyte's right, you shouldn't have heard that." Suddenly exhausted, Caitlyn sank to the sand.

"So what else can we do?"

"Um..." Adam was confused briefly. "Oh. Teleporting, you know about, and telepathy within the group. Then we usually have an individual talent as well. Megabyte can do anything with electronics. Ami, that's another of us, does telekinesis...it seems like you have extra telepathy, more that the rest of us."

"Kevin had that." Megabyte said quietly.

"What do you do?" Caitlyn shaded her eyes to look up at Adam.

"Me?"

"You left yourself out of the little list. Megabyte does electrics and Ami does telekinesis. What about you?" Megabyte clapped an arm around Adam's shoulder.

"Adam heals." Adam looked annoyed and shrugged him off.

"Sometimes. Not always."

"Healing." Caitlyn repeated quietly. "Powerful gift. So, what am I doing here?"

"What were you doing just before you came here?"

"Trying to avoid Rachel, who apparently has given up on stalking me so as to beat me up."

"Excuse me?" Megabyte asked. Caitlyn waved one hand vaguely.

"Long story. Why does it matter?"

"Tomorrow People usually break out when they're upset, or scared. Megabyte was falling over the banister. Kevin was being attacked by bullies."

"You left yourself out again." Caitlyn said quietly.

"It doesn't matter."

*I think it does.* Adam stared; she'd just brushed aside his shields as though they weren't even there.

"Adam?" Megabyte said.

"Nothing, Megabyte." Adam answered automatically. Caitlyn stood up abruptly.

"Can I go now?"

"Can you?" Adam repeated. "When you first break out it's hard to get away from this place. The beacon keeps calling you back."

"I beat I can." With that, she closed her eyes and vanished. Adam waited for a moment, then her voice came to their minds.

*Told you I could do it.*

*Well done.* Adam complemented her.

"Adam." Megabyte said loudly. "How'd she do that? And how'd she hear you when you 'pathed to me?"

"I don't know, Megabyte. Maybe that wasn't her breakout, maybe she's been here before."

"When?" Megabyte demanded, "You've been here nearly all the time the past four years."

"Maybe she broke out before that. She seems very old to be breaking out anyway." He turned away, effectively ending the conversation.

It was almost a week before she reappeared. The four current Tomorrow People were all on the beach, not doing very much, when there was a splash and she dragged herself out of the sea.

"That's very annoying." she muttered, glaring back out at the sea. Adam nodded.

"We think the beacon's a little bit off. Are you all right?" She lifted her head, exposing a bruise on her cheek.

"I'll live. Rachel's leaving, and she wanted to give me something to remember her by."

"So she punched you?" Ami asked.

"Rachel's not my friend, Ami. Does anyone happen to have some dry clothes?" Adam teleported into the ship and returned with a T-shirt and shorts.

"They'll be too big for you, but they're dry." He said. Caitlyn accepted them and teleported herself to the ship to change.

"Adam, she's..." Jade trailed off, unable to put it into words.

"She's a little unusual, I know." Adam agreed. "I'm not sure, but I think she might have broken out before the rest of us."

"No I didn't." Caitlyn said, appearing back on the beach. "This is only my second visit. It's just that unusual stuff happens to me quite often." Unconsciously, her hand went to the small pager/beeper at her waist.

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Like, it's a secret, Megabyte."

"All right, all right, I was only asking." Caitlyn grinned suddenly.

"I'm sorry, Megabyte. I have a bad habit of doing that."

"No big."

"Anyone want to come to my house? There's no one home."

"Sure." Ami said. Catching the look Megabyte sent at her, she 'pathed, *Megabyte, she's lonely.*

*So?*

"Um...you do realise I can hear that, right?" Caitlyn said politely.

"Excuse me?" Ami said. 

"Yeah, Adam figures that's my thing I can do better than anyone else."

"Telepathy?" Jade said, "but we all have telepathy anyway."

"Only within the group, Jade." Adam said.

"You can hear normal people's thoughts?" Jade demanded.

"Sometimes. I've learned not to listen, though."

"Do you think you could not listen to our private conversations, please?" Megabyte said.

"Sure. Sorry." With that she teleported herself away.

"Caitlyn, wait!" Ami called, but she was gone. 

"Megabyte!" Jade said.

"What? She shouldn't be listening to our conversations."

"She can't help it, Megabyte." Adam said quietly.

"Like she couldn't help breaking past your shields the other day?" The girls stared. No one ever got past Adam's shields unless he wanted them to. They were simply too strong.

"Something like that." Adam vanished from the beach.

"Oh, way to go, Megabyte. That's two friends in two minutes. Wanna go three for three?" Jade asked, standing up and following Adam.

"I didn't...hang on...Ami!" He caught Ami's arm as she stood up. "Ami, I didn't meant anything. It's just, with you and Jade, I knew straight away you were one of us. I knew I could trust you. I don't feel that with her." Ami lowered her gaze.

"I don't either. But Adam does...and Jade seems to." Megabyte snorted.

"Jade's just trying to impress Adam."

"Or maybe..." Ami tilted her head back up. "maybe she really does feel it, and it's just you and I. Come with us, Megabyte."

"To her house?"

"For a little while. Maybe you'll like it."

"And maybe the horse will learn to sing."

"Could be. Just come, Megabyte. No one's going to make you stay."

"Oh, all right. If it'll stop you going on." Ami grinned and vanished. Sighing, Megabyte concentrated on being with his friends.

Two weeks later

Megabyte sprawled on the couch in the sitting room in Caitlyn's house. She'd been telling the truth when she said her Dad was rarely home; Megabyte hadn't seen him even once in the two weeks since they'd first started coming here.

They'd adopted the house as their new base, since it was generally more comfortable than the island, and it had all mod cons. Megabyte hadn't completely gotten over his mistrust of Caitlyn, but he'd accepted her as a friend, which was better than nothing.

"Having fun?" Jade plopped down beside him and shoved his feet off.

"Three hundred channels, and nothing on." 

"The eternal complaint of the young." Caitlyn remarked as she passed through the room.

"You're only two years older than me!" Megabyte yelled after her.

"Hey, go back. Gargoyles!" Jade said happily, plucking the remote from his hand. Adam suddenly 'ported in.

"Guys, switch to the news." Jade fumbled with the zapper, and Caitlyn calmly scooped it out of her hand and switched. "Look!" Adam pointed. Caitlyn paled and sat down suddenly.

"...Another spate of monster attacks has hit Odaiba. This town was rocked by attacks three years ago, and there were unconfirmed reports that some local children were somehow involved. This new spate of attacks, following on from the mysterious abductions and subsequent returns of many local children, has most of the population fleeing to nearby Kyoto."

"But they didn't call me." Caitlyn murmured, pulling her beeper from her waist.

"Aren't your cousins Japanese?" Megabyte asked, turning to look at her.

"Hmm? Yes, they live in Odaiba. I have to mail them." She plucked the D-Terminal from her bag, which was handily beside the couch, and began typing rapidly.

"Hey, look!" Jade called suddenly. "They're fighting!" Caitlyn looked up sharply; the view had changed from a general overview of Odaiba to a close up on a fight.

"Paildramon!" she muttered, "and Shukomon? But where's Sylphymon?"

"You know those?" Adam asked, surprised.

"It's not the first time they've appeared. Didn't you hear? They appeared all over the planet a few days ago."

"So who's that guy?" Ami asked, pointing to the lone Digimon they were fighting.

"And why are they going three on one?" Jade added with a frown.

"That's Daemon. He's a very bad Di...per...being. They have to stop him, or a lot of people will die."

"Think we should check it out?" Megabyte asked Adam.

"What good would that do?" Caitlyn said quickly. "We can't fight. The kids there aren't hurt."

"How did you know there are kids? It only showed them once, and you were typing." Jade said, sitting up.

"Those guys...Paildramon and the others...there's a group of kids that show up wherever they are, like groupies or something."

"Those ones?" Jade asked, as the view changed again. A group of six kids was huddled together; the boy in the middle was holding something, and the others appeared to be propping up his arm. Caitlyn leaned forward, muttering under her breath in Japanese. The whatever-it-was the boy was holding began to glow, brighter and brighter, and the creature Caitlyn had called Daemon was sucked into a huge black hole.

"Yes!" Caitlyn hissed, but the smile fell from her face as the view went back to the kids. The boy had fallen and wasn't moving; the others had pulled in around him, and only moved when another group came racing up. The view switched back to the overhead, and she sat back, drained.

"What just happened?" Megabyte asked.

"The good guys won." Caitlyn said simply, standing up. "Let's leave it at that, shall we?" 

And with that, she turned and left the room.

Emmm...I don't really like that ending, but I really wanted to get straight on to chapter three...maybe I'll change it later. So, what'd ya all think? Good? Crap? Let me know, please! Oh, and I don't own 'em! See you in chapter three (Unless you're really bored by now, which is also very possible) :)


	3. A Meeting of Equals

Hey, it's chapter three

Hey, it's chapter three! Goody for me!

A Meeting of Equals

"Caitlyn? You home?" 

__

*Caitlyn?*

*I'm out. I'll be back in a few minutes. Is something wrong?*

*Nah, just bored. Doin' anything fun?*

*Not a thing. Watch the TV or something, I'll be there very soon.*

"Watch TV." Jade grumbled, flopping onto the couch. "I could have done that at home."

"Why didn't you then?" Megabyte asked from the doorway.

"Didn't feel like it. You heard that?"

"Yeah. Move up." She made room for him on the couch. They had a brief amiable fight about what to watch, finally compromising. By that stage, Caitlyn was home.

"Anything good on? Push over, Megabyte, I'm dead on my feet." He moved up again, nearly pushing Jade off the end.

"Megabyte!" She threw a cushion at him. 

"Jade!" Caitlyn snagged the cushion before Megabyte could throw it back. "Not in here, there's valuable breakable stuff!"

"He started it!"

"Did not!"

"Oh, children." Caitlyn sighed. That was a surefire way of making Megabyte shut up, and sure enough it worked this time too.

"I'm not a child!" he yelled as she went back to the kitchen to put away her shopping.

"Says you." she responded cheerfully. Her beeper suddenly went off, and she pulled it from her waist. Curious, Jade wandered over to take a look, but she couldn't make heads or tails of the symbols that were flying around, apparently randomly, on the screen.

"What does it mean?" she asked. Caitlyn had gone pale.

"It means…it means I have to go."

"Go?" Megabyte repeated. "Go where?"

"Odaiba."

"You're going to Japan on the strength of one page? Shouldn't you even ring them back?"

"I don't have to ring them. The message speaks for itself."

"Hey, guys, come check this out!" Megabyte called from the sitting room.

"Did it get colder?" Jade asked, rubbing at her arms as she followed Caitlyn back into the other room.

"What is it, Megabyte?" He pointed at the screen, which once again was showing news from Odaiba. This time, a massive cloud of darkness was building up, slowly spreading over the entire planet.

"I have to go." Caitlyn said slowly, "I'll be back later."

"Later when?" Megabyte asked, calling Adam as he did so. Caitlyn glared but didn't rebuke him.

"Later. I don't know how long. I have to go help."

"Help who?" Adam asked, 'porting in.

"Them." She pointed at the screen; pinpricks of light were visible through the darkness. Where they shone, the darkness thinned, failing altogether in some places. 

"Who are they? Caitlyn, what's going on?" She shook her head, backing away a little.

"I don't have time to explain. Trust me. I'll be back soon." With that, she vanished.

"Adam? Should we go after her?" Jade asked.

"You should stay here. I'll go." Adam said.

"Aw, Adam…" Megabyte complained.

"No, Megabyte. I'll go. It might be dangerous."

"Fine." Jade sulked. Adam vanished, going after Caitlyn.

Sora pulled her jacket closer, looking around.

"Well, this is where we first entered the Digiworld. Maybe that's a good sign." There was a scuffling among the crowd and Caitlyn appeared, closely followed by another boy. She was arguing with him in English as she approached the five Digidestined.

"Caitlyn!" Matt said in surprise. She broke off her argument to flash a smile at him.

"Thought I'd leave you alone, eh?" she asked, smiling at the group.

"Glad you didn't, we can use the help." Joe said. The boy said something to Caitlyn, who answered sharply and pointed back towards the crowd. Sighing, she turned to Matt.

"Matt, you have to get the parents to hang onto Adam. He's not Digidestined and if he's standing with us when the gate opens…"

"We don't have time." Izzy interrupted. "The gate's opening now!" Caitlyn turned back to Adam; Matt strained, with his not-so-great English, to understand.

"Please, Adam, go back. I promise to explain later, just please go back into the group."

"You're not in the group."

"I'm not in that group, I'm in this group."

"Noriko!" Joe called, startling both of them. "Come on." Adam looked back at Caitlyn as the girl slowly came to Sora's side.

"Adam, if you trust me as one of you, go back over there." Adam nodded slowly.

"Be careful." 

"I will. I'll see you later." She turned to stand beside Matt, fumbling at her waist, as Adam stepped back to the group of parents. Jim made room for him and smiled kindly, but since he didn't speak English there wasn't much else he could do. Adam winced, ducking his head, as a bright light seemed to swallow Caitlyn and the children with her.

And then they were gone.

It was almost half a day before they returned, and when they did there were a lot more of them. Caitlyn pleaded tiredness when Adam came after her, but she did spend some time talking to the blond boy. After a minute she hugged him and came back to Adam.

"Now what?" he asked, following her through the group.

"Now we find somewhere with few enough people that we can teleport. Oh…hang on for a minute. Kari!" A brown haired girl of about twelve years old looked up and came running over. "Adam, I think Kari might be pre-TP. Just see what you think." When the girl arrived she broke into a flurry of Japanese, but Caitlyn cut her off and said something. Kari bowed slightly.

"My apologies. My English…not good. Gomen." She added something in Japanese to Caitlyn, who laughed and turned to Adam.

"She says she's very glad that you're not hurt, and you might just be more stubborn than her brother." Adam glanced up and caught sight of a couple of boys glowering at them.

"One of those?"

"Um-hum, the older one. The younger one with the goggles is Davis, and the other one is my cousin, TK."

"Davis looks mad." Caitlyn said something to Kari, who flushed pink.

"Davis thinks he's Kari's boyfriend. He's not, but he seems to be the only one who can't see it." She stage-whispered, "Kari likes TK." Obviously Kari could understand more than she could speak, because at that she gave an indignant whoop and punched Caitlyn's side. Caitlyn winced and laughed all at once; the laugh covered the flurry of words from Kari.

"Gomen, Kari, we have to go now. Come on, Adam."

"Nice to meet you." Adam said politely to Kari.

"Hai." Kari responded. Caitlyn smiled and pulled him away.

__

*What do you think?*

*Could be. It's very weak, yet.*

*She's done things, though…things I wouldn't even try to.*

*Like what?* Caitlyn didn't answer, instead pulling him out of sight behind a tree. There was a brief wolf whistle from nearby—some things transcend borders—but it was quickly cut off.

"Come on, let's go." 

"What if they see us?"

"You think anyone's going to pay attention to one more flash of light? Let's _go, _Adam." 

"Caitlyn…" she paused and looked at him. "You are going to explain this?"

"When it's time, Adam. When it's time."

"When it's time?" Megabyte repeated.

"That's what she said." Adam was staring into space, or, more accurately, out one of the ship's windows.

"So, she joined this group of Japanese kids, vanished, came back with an even bigger group of Japanese kids, and she won't explain why?" Jade asked.

"She said she would later." Ami protested. "If she doesn't want to for now then leave her alone. She won't put any of us in danger."

"Do we know that?" Megabyte asked reluctantly. "How do we know?"

"Megabyte!" Ami said in disgust.

"I'm just saying. We don't know her all that long, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I've never been able to sense her the way I can you." His voice dropped. "I like her and all, but sometimes I don't feel like she's one of us."

"He's got a point." Caitlyn said from behind them. Adam jumped up from his seat but she waved him away and sat on the floor where she'd been standing. "I know you guys can't sense me, but I think that's because of what I am…besides being a Tomorrow Person, I mean."

"What do you mean?" Jade asked. Caitlyn linked her fingers together.

"The problem here is that I promised Matt and his friends that I wouldn't tell…the same way I won't tell them about you. And they're curious. The only answer I can see is for all of us to meet and for me to explain everything, to everyone."

"Why don't you just tell us about them and leave it at that?" Megabyte countered.

"Because if I'd do that to them, what's to stop me from doing it to you sometime?"

"But we're the good guys." Jade protested.

"So are they. They saved the world yesterday. Did you miss that?"

"It got dark—I don't know if they saved the world." Ami said uncertainly.

"The darkness was just the first part. If it had worked, we all would have been in very big trouble."

"So they all held torches." Megabyte said dismissively.

"You know nothing about it. Don't ever, ever dismiss my friends like that. Whether you believe it or not, they saved our world yesterday and you will respect them for that." Caitlyn's voice had dropped to a hiss and she was standing, looming over him. Megabyte stared, almost scared; Jade was clutching Ami's sleeve, and Adam was on his feet. Caitlyn swayed, touching her forehead; then she sank back to the floor.

"I'm sorry; that was…I'm sorry. It's been a long couple of days."

"Where did you go?" Adam asked suddenly. "When you vanished, with the others…I couldn't sense you any more."

"I'd expected that. When the others go, I can't track them…I can't tell you, Adam. Not unless you let me tell them, too."

__

*I was worried,* Adam 'pathed.

__

*I'm sorry about that. Please understand, I can't tell you. I won't break their trust that way.*

*I understand, but I think you may have problems with Megabyte.*

*Megabyte?* she blew a mental raspberry. *_He still doesn't believe I'm one of you, not really.*_

*Are you?*

*Yes…* She trailed off for a minute. _*And I can prove it. Here.* _She pulled at the fine gold chain that hung around her neck, finally freeing the pendant that hung on the end. Adam had noticed the chain before, but she'd never displayed the pendant. The design was familiar; all the Tomorrow people wore it in one way or another. He and Megabyte had necklaces, Ami had a pair of earrings, and Jade had a bracelet. None of them had seen it like this before, though. The design was emblazoned in white on a background of black, fastened onto something that looked like plastic but probably wasn't. The white was glowing faintly, brightening and fading as she breathed.

"It's Glo Gear." Megabyte didn't sound impressed. "You can buy that anywhere."

"Have you ever seen one like this before, Megabyte?" Caitlyn asked. Without waiting for him to answer, she went on, "Have you ever seen one do this?" As she returned her gaze to the necklace, it began to glow brighter and brighter. Jade winced, holding up one hand and squinting to see past the glow. As the light faded Caitlyn's beeper went off again, but she ignored it.

"And that means what exactly?" Megabyte asked. Caitlyn tucked the necklace away and again and rose, wandering aimlessly through the room.

"Part of being in the group is that you get this necklace, each one different. We call them Crests…they symbolise our strongest trait. Tai, our Leader, he has Courage…there are others, nine in all including his and mine. And mine is the Crest of Future, I am the only Child ever to have held it. The legend says it will be given to the one who holds the future within."

"You think you got it because you're a TP?" Ami asked.

"It fits. We are the future, it's inside us." Megabyte nodded reluctantly.

"That does fit. Does it always glow?" She shook her head.

"It glows when I'm around you guys, or when I concentrate on it. That's all." She looked at the four Tomorrow People. "I want to tell you everything. But I can't without the others' permission. I won't betray their trust like that."

"So ask them." Jade said quietly. Caitlyn stared at her and laughed suddenly. 

"That would make sense, wouldn't it? Does someone want to come?"

"You're going now?" Megabyte said in surprise.

"No time like the present." she said cheerfully.

"I'll come, then." Megabyte added quickly, before Adam could say anything.

"Great! Let's go." She 'ported out, Megabyte close behind.

The first thing she did when they entered the flat was call Ken.

"Ken, Megabyte. Megabyte, Ken. Ken, can you translate for him? He doesn't speak Japanese."

"Sure, I guess." Ken's English was flawless.

"Thanks." She then turned and began speaking in rapid Japanese to the other kids.

"She says she wants to explain to you and your friends about us, that we can trust you, and that you have a right to know." Ken said quietly, listening closely. 

"How do you know we can trust them?" Matt demanded. He shot a quick glance at Gabumon, who along with all the other Digimon, had frozen at their entry.

"How did you know you could trust Davis and the others?" Caitlyn asked calmly, crossing the room and picking up an odd, winged teddy bear.

"They had Digivices!" TK protested. Caitlyn shook her head.

"Before that. Tai told Davis about the Digiworld before they ever had Digivices, didn't you, Tai?"

"Well, yeah, once."

"He didn't tell me anything in particular." Davis objected, "just that there were lots of Digimon in the Digiworld."

"Even that much…I've told them about the Crests; that they symbolise our strongest trait. I had to." she added, addressing that to Davis who was glaring.

"All right." Tai said suddenly. "You can tell them, but we want to be there. And you have to tell us about them."

"Like how that Adam guy followed you here, and for that matter how you got here." Matt added. Caitlyn nodded and turned to Megabyte, moving back to English.

"What do you think?" She could just about hear Ken translating for the others now.

"It's what you said, isn't it? that they wouldn't let you unless you told them about us." She nodded and held out a hand. He held his over it, palm to palm, not quite touching.

__

*Adam? Ami, Jade? Tai says I can tell you, but you have to come here and I have to tell them about us as well.*

*Deal. You want us to come straight in there?*

*No, the street below. We'll come and meet you.*

*Ok.* Caitlyn dropped her hand and turned back to the others,

"Deal, Megabyte and I will go and meet them. They're not far away."

"I'll come too." Matt said quickly. Caitlyn nodded and the three headed for the door.

Explaining everything took about twice as long as it should have, because everything had to be translated. Out of the Digidestined, only Matt and Ken really spoke English, and none of the Tomorrow People spoke Japanese. Ken translated for the 'Destined, and Caitlyn for the Tomorrow People, but it was slow going even so, especially when one or another of them interrupted.

"You kill Digimon? How can that be?" Adam asked.

"First, I don't kill them, my Digimon does, second, he hasn't killed any of them, and third, it's just the same as Megabyte deleting a computer program. Well, more or less." she amended, sensing the Digimon getting a bit upset at that. "I admit I'm not sure I could order him to attack, but then he can do that perfectly well on his own, so…"

"Hang on. Why can't you attack?" Tai asked.

"Tomorrow People can't kill, Tai, and generally we have problems even with fighting. It's part of the package."

"You can't kill?" Matt repeated. She nodded.

"You find that surprising? I know you don't enjoy fighting, Matt, none of you do. The future belongs to those who share this view." TK shivered.

"You make it sound like you're going to destroy anyone who doesn't agree." Cody remarked. TK nodded; he'd been about to say more or less the same thing.

"Destroy…of course not! Leaving aside that I can't, I wouldn't. But, Cody, if people don't agree with us they'll end up destroying themselves anyway."

"Maybe…" Cody wasn't convinced.

"Cody, I'm not getting up on a soapbox here. You're perfectly free to believe anything you want, as long as you don't require me to believe it as well."

"And if I do?" Cody asked, looking up at her.

"Well, that's what the Digimon Emperor did, isn't it? He wanted us all to believe he was the leader of the Digital World, but we didn't believe, so we fought him. Well, you did. Ken could have sat in his room and played Emperor all he wanted, with no interference. It was when he started trying to impress that belief on others that he got in trouble." Se stopped talking suddenly, tilting her head as though listening to something. Adam noticed and stood up, looking around uneasily.

"What is it?"

"Can't you hear it? People crying?"

"I don't hear anything." Caitlyn squeezed her eyes shut.

"I don't either…now." Shaking it off, she turned back to the 'Destined. The teddy bear in her arms, who'd been introduced as Baramon, her Digimon, looked up at her uncertainly, but she smiled quickly down at him before turning her attention back to the others.

"So now what happens?" Tai asked, eyeing Megabyte warily.

"Now? We go home; you go home; and everything stays the way it was."

"But it's not the same any more." Kari said, shaking her head at Ken as he started to translate. Caitlyn frowned and switched to Japanese.

"It's exactly the same as before. You just know about it now. That's the only difference."

"That's what makes it different." Yolei backed Kari up. "I mean, you can…you have telepathy!"

"I would never use that on any of you, never." Caitlyn said, frowning again. Matt stood up hastily, sensing an argument.

"That's not what she meant." He frowned at the Tomorrow People; normally he'd have spoken in English, but he couldn't right now. "It's just…it's a little creepy." Caitlyn backed away, looking betrayed.

"You think I…"

"No. I don't. But they don't know you like I do. Try and see it from their point of view." She shook her head irritably and snapped at Adam, "You stay out of this. It's not got to do with the Tomorrow People." Megabyte flinched slightly. Caitlyn turned back to the Digidestined. "This doesn't change anything." Surprisingly it was Cody who spoke up.

"She's right. We trusted her before, why not now?"

"It's different now." TK said uncomfortably. "Before we were trusting her not to tell anyone." Ken turned and whispered quickly to Adam, who nodded.

"Caitlyn, translate for me?" he asked. Caitlyn nodded absently. "We had to fight Caitlyn to get her to tell us about you…sorry, I translated that wrong. Not fight, persuade with difficulty." Tai glanced at Ken, who nodded-that was the right translation.

"You wouldn't tell them?"

"I didn't tell you about them, did I? Why would I tell them about you? It's *supposed* to be a secret." Tai blinked.

"I guess I thought…"

"Thought I was spilling the beans with my new club? Wrong, Tai. For a courageous leader, you're not very bright, are you? My Crest says I belong with them just as much as with you."

"Prove it." Davis demanded. Caitlyn moved to stand by the Tomorrow People and pulled her Crest from her shirt. Even she was surprised at how brightly it was shining. 

"Ow." Davis complained, shielding his eyes.

"Well, you asked for it." Matt commented. Caitlyn tucked it away again and Tai lowered his hand from his eyes, looking torn.

"She's right." he said finally, turning to his team. There were several exclamations, but he overrode everyone and went on. "We all know what her Crest means, and god knows we spent long enough trying to figure it out. Now she has. Caitlyn." He turned back to her. "You're not asking us to work with them or anything?" 

"Work with…no, Tai. Just realise that *I* have to work with them. That's all."

"Then that's all right." He turned and fixed his group with a glare. "*That's all right.*" They all murmured consent. Caitlyn smiled faintly at him.

"Thank you, Tai. That means a lot." She turned back to her friends, but Matt intercepted her.

"You still one of us?" he asked, in very quiet English.

"Always, Matt," she smiled faintly, "always." Then she turned to the Tomorrow People. "Let's go home."


	4. A Friend in Need

Wow, part four!

A Friend in Need…

Megabyte glanced up as Caitlyn appeared in the doorway.

"Been off with your friends?" She nodded, plopping down beside him.

"Lot of work to be done. Yukio's helped, but there's a lot more yet."

"Having fun?"

"Always. What's on?"

While those two squabbled amiably over the TV, the new Digidestined were finding themselves in trouble. Dark Digimon were rising all over, infuriated at their defeat of Daemon and Malomyotsimon.

"Davis, duck!" TK tackled the other, knocking him over just as a shot flew through the space where he'd been standing.

"Thanks, TA. Kari, you ok?"

"I'm ok but Gatomon's not!" Kari was cradling the cat-like Digimon.

"Baramon, get out of there!" Yolei yelled, across the field. "You can't help!"

"Cody's in trouble!" the Rookie protested. 

"Allow me!" Aquilamon said, swooping in to try and get Cody. He was repelled by heavy fire from the Tyrannomon.

"Davis! Cody's in trouble!" Yolei yelled. The other three looked around.

"Damm! Cody, try and come this way!" TK yelled. Cody was relatively safe right now, but he was cut off from the others.

"Every time I try that, they attack me! If I just stand here they don't." Cody called back.

"We'll protect you!" Pegasusmon yelled, divebombing a Digimon.

"They're moving him away!" Kari said suddenly. TK stared. She was right; the Dark Digimon kept backing up slowly, forcing Cody to move away from his team-mates or be trampled.

"Cody, go around them!" Davis yelled. At that exact moment one of the Digimon broke off, grabbed Cody and flew away.

"Nefertimon!" 

"Pegasusmon!" 

"Stingmon!" The three Digimon picked up their team-mates and flew after the Digimon.

"Get Caitlyn here." Davis said tersely to Yolei. "We may need Tygyrmon." 

Tygyrmon, Baramon's Champion form, was a very powerful fighter. Unfortunately, he usually couldn't fight unless he or Caitlyn were directly threatened.

"They were deliberately going after Cody." Kari said. "What do you think they want?" TK shook his head.

"Not anything good, anyway." Ken kept his thoughts to himself.

Caitlyn groaned as her beeper went off.

"What, again? You just got back." Megabyte complained.

"I know, and I had a killer day. It must be important." She fished out her D-Terminal and read the message from Yolei. "Oh, crap. See you later, Megabyte." 

With that she vanished, headed for an apartment on the other side of the world.

"Izzy."

"Caitlyn. Glad you could come." She smiled faintly, leaning over the back of his chair to better see the screen.

"Wouldn't miss it. What's going on?"

"You know the Dark Digimon have been rising?"

"Well, yeah, but not seriously. There's never been higher than a Champion."

"Apparently, they were just waiting." Matt said from behind her. He came in and stood on Izzy's other side. "TK mailed me. What's up?"

"The others have been attacked. They're all right for now, but Cody's been taken."

"Taken where?" Matt demanded.

"They don't know. Their Digimon couldn't track him."

"What do they want Cody for?" Matt demanded.

"Blood of a lamb." Caitlyn muttered.

"What?" Izzy turned to look at her. "What did you say?"

"Nothing…I've been having dreams, lately. About the Digital World. And I saw a prophecy. That was a line from it."

"Say it." Izzy said. Caitlyn shook her head.

"I don't even remember it. I mean, it was a *dream*, Izzy."

"Prophecies from the Digital World have come true before." Izzy pointed out.

"And you told me Adam's had dreams that have come true." Matt said.

"Adam's had about four years more experience than I have." Caitlyn protested.

"Still…" She sighed.

"Fine. I really don't remember all of it, but the bit I do remember goes something like, The Blood of the Lamb shall be split through his own fall. It shall rejuvenate the First Enemy, and he shall return from his third defeat. They shall not know him, shall not stop him, and the worlds shall tremble at his coming. Or something like that, anyway."

"Why did you say Cody was the Lamb?" Izzy asked intently.

"Because…" she shrugged. "It just seemed to fit. As I understand that, it means that someone we've fought before is coming back, and they need sacrificial blood to do it. Cody's always been the least violent of us, so it just seemed to fit."

"But through his own fall? That implies that it's going to be his fault."

"Does it matter?" Matt asked. "We have to go find him."

"Get me there, and I can find him." Caitlyn said.

"You sure?" Izzy asked.

"Trust me on this. I can find him, but I need to be in the Digiworld to do it. It doesn't work from here."

"You've got the only D3 around." Matt pointed out.

"That's true. Coming?"

"Sure. Angemon might need to practice his archery some more."

"Um…" Caitlyn threw him an odd look.

"Never mind. Long story."

"Cody!"

"Cody?"

"COOODEEEE!!!"

"Davis, that's not helping."

"Shut up, AP."

"It's TK." Matt and Caitlyn arrived just in time to defuse a bad situation.

"Guys, he's over this way." Caitlyn said, pointing. Kari nodded.

"That's what I thought."

"But that's not the way the Digimon were going." Davis protested.

"Davis, ever hear of a false trail?" Caitlyn asked. Without waiting for him to answer, she went on, "It's over this way. Trust me."

"There's no Digivice signal from that direction." Yolei said.

"There's no Digivice signal from *any* direction. If it's separated from its' owner, it doesn't give off a signal." Matt said. With no further objections, the group headed off in the direction Caitlyn had pointed out.

"How much further?" Davis complained.

"Not much." Caitlyn said absently, not looking around.

"That's what you said four miles ago!" he complained.

"Don't exaggerate, Davis. It was only about a mile." Yolei said.

"It was a mile too far if you ask me." Davis muttered.

"No one did ask you, so be quiet." Matt said abruptly. Caitlyn glanced up at him, but she didn't say anything.

"We're here." she said suddenly, stopping dead in the middle of the track.

"We're where?" TK asked, confused. "I don't see anything!"

"We're at the part where you guys wait and I go by myself."

"Why?" Ken asked, cutting Davis off. "Why do you have to go by yourself?" She looked away, looking faintly sick.

"Because…it's not—very nice." Matt muttered something in English. "No, I am *not* being hypocritical, Matt. They're only kids, they shouldn't have to…" 

"We're not just kids!" Davis said hotly. "We've done more in the Digital World than you have!"

"Yes, I know, Davis, but this…"

"We're coming." Kari said quietly. "That's that." Caitlyn nodded slowly.

"All right. It's this way." She led them through the trees for about five more minutes before they finally reached Cody.

Not five feet in front of them the ground disappeared, falling away into a lake. None of the Digidestined had noticed that they'd been climbing steadily for over an hour, but the proof lay in front of them.

Far out in the middle of the lake, Cody stood on a thin plank. It was suspended a few feet above the surface of the water, but precariously, so that each time Cody moved it rocked as though trying to tip him off. His hands were tied in front of him, preventing him from moving with any ease, and the Digidestined could see Seadramon circling below him.

"Damm." Caitlyn muttered, shading her eyes as she stared out. "There's a shield up…see there, and there? We can't fly out to him. And I'd guess it goes under water as well…so Submarimon can't get him either."

"What does that leave us?" TK asked, subdued.

"Whatever it is, we better do it fast. He's not looking so well." Matt said, watching Cody sway slightly.

"The shield's magnifying the heat. He's burning." Ken said quietly.

"How do you know that?" Yolei asked.

"Because I had a model for a shield like that…but I never used it." Ken answered.

"I have an idea." Caitlyn announced suddenly. "Ken, is that shield solid or energy?"

"It's solid," he said, looking surprised, "but what…"

"Someone fly me out." she went on, not listening to Ken.

"I thought you said we couldn't get to him that way." TK protested.

"We can't, but I need to talk to him and he'll never hear me from here."

"Take Nefertimon." Kari said suddenly, "if you don't mind of course," she added, turning to her Digimon.

"Of course I don't mind, but what…"

"Let's hurry. Please, I promise you'll understand soon." Matt grabbed her arm, speaking softly in English, and she shook her head again.

"No, it's not. Now let go, Matt." Reluctantly, he let go, and she boosted herself onto Nefertimon's back. The Angel Digimon flew slowly out over the shield, landing when they were directly over Cody, who had seen them and was watching closely.

"Nerfertimon, go back to the others, please. Thank you." Nerfertimon reluctantly took off and headed back to the others as Caitlyn knelt down on the shield. "Cody, can you hear me?" At his nod, she went on. "Good, listen, I'm gonna get you out, ok? But first I need you to do something. I need you to get as low down on that board as you can. Take it nice and slow, and get real low down. If you can lie down, that's great."

"But I'll fall!" he protested.

"No, just go really really slowly, ok? Cody, you're going to be fine. Just ease backwards a little. That's great…little more…perfect. Now hunker down—ah, slowly, Cody—perfect. Now, just sort of slide forward…" she kept talking the whole time, gently guiding him to lie down. When he was stretched across the plank, she stood up. "Ok, Cody, the plank's going to rock in a minute, ok? I need you to trust me, and just lay still. Don't move, ok?" Cody nodded, leaning his forehead against the board. Caitlyn took a deep breath, stared down at him—and vanished.

On the cliff, the Digidestined could make out little of what was happening; a load of nothing, as Davis said. But the flash of light as Caitlyn vanished caught their attention.

"Where'd she go?" Davis demanded, jerking backwards when she suddenly reappeared in front of them, clutching Cody tightly. As soon as she was on solid ground she collapsed, still clutching Cody.

"Caitlyn…" Matt hurried forward, kneeling beside her and gently opening her arms. She wasn't focused on him, or Cody, or anything; instead she sat and stared at nothing. Ken and TK carefully pulled Cody from her arms, and she whimpered slightly, but that was all.

"How's Cody?" Matt asked, looking up.

"Not good. He's pretty badly burned…he's not awake." TK said quietly. Matt nodded.

"Let's get them back."

"Will we be able to help Caitlyn?" Kari asked hesitantly, as Ken and TK formed a cradle for Cody.

"We may not be able to, but Adam will." Matt said, standing and picking Caitlyn up,

"But how can we get in touch with him?"

"We don't have to. The minute we go back to our world he'll know. Come on, guys."

Matt was proved right; only a minute or so after they'd returned to Izzy's flat, there were two _pops _and two bright flashes of light. When they'd cleared, Adam and Jade were both standing there.

"What happened?" Adam asked, crossing at once to Caitlyn.

"She…Cody got kidnapped and she went to save him and she teleported…and then they came back and she was like this." Kari said all in one breath. Jade's eyes widened as Ken translated and she glanced worriedly at Adam, who shook his head almost absently.

"Teleport…that shouldn't have…what kind of teleport?"

"Straight down." Matt offered. "She had to be exact about where she landed, so it was straight down."

"Why exact?" Adam wasn't even looking at Matt, instead he was hunkered beside Caitlyn. In between questions to Matt he whispered softly to her.

"Because if she'd missed she would have dumped herself and Cody into a lake full of Seadramon." Ken spoke up. Jade jumped and moved closer to Adam.

"How exact?" Jade spoke up.

"A few inches either way." Ken guestimated.

"Then she'll be fine." Adam said, standing up. As if to prove his point, Caitlyn sat bolt upright.

"Cody! Adam, can you help Cody? Please, Adam, you have to…"

"Shush. I will." Reassured, she lay down again, keeping a close eye on him as he crossed to Cody and began to concentrate, drawing on his energies.

"Are you all right, Caitlyn?" Kari asked quietly. Alerted more by her tone than anything else, Jade came across to the pair. Caitlyn shook her head and answered in English.

"No. I'm freezing." Kari understood more than she spoke, so she knew what Caitlyn had said.

"Freezing? But it's so warm out!" she protested.

"I know. I'm still freezing." Adam sat back on his heels, tired, as Cody sat up. His sunburn had faded and the bruises on his wrists were gone.

__

"Adam, something's wrong with Caitlyn." Jade 'pathed quietly. Caitlyn flinched at the noise but didn't react otherwise.

__

"Something like what?" Jade shrugged helplessly.

__

"I wish I knew. You ok?"

"Tired. I'm fine." Adam climbed to his feet and came over to Caitlyn. He sat next to her and she leaned on his shoulder, shivering slightly. Concerned, Adam drew away slightly to look at her. 

"Caitlyn?" he murmured. She shook her head.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"No you're not." He spoke very quietly, but even so he knew Kari could hear. "What's wrong?" 

"Nothing, just...I don't know. Cody nearly *died*, Adam, and if I'd misjudged it even a little…"

"But you didn't." Kari said now, in Japanese. Adam looked up, confused. "You saved Cody, Caitlyn. Look, he's fine." Still shivering, Caitlyn lifted her head to see Cody sitting up, talking quietly to Yolei.

"Where's Baramon?" she asked suddenly. Kari looked around the room, calling softly to Matt.

"Matt? Did Baramon come back with us?"

"I thought so." Matt looked around and finally spotted Baramon in a corner, talking earnestly to Upamon.

"Baramon, Caitlyn wants you." The bear-Digimon turned away from Upamon and followed Matt back to where Caitlyn was still sitting, shivering.

"Caitlyn?" he asked. Caitlyn shook her head again and opened her arms, pulling him onto her lap. She wrapped her arms tightly around him, shivering madly all the time.

"What's wrong with her?" Matt asked quietly.

"Nothing. It's a reaction to the teleport." Adam answered.

"Teleporting doesn't normally do *that* to her!" TK protested.

"But she doesn't normally have to control it quite so tightly. And she doesn't have as much practice as the rest of us do." He glanced down at Caitlyn before continuing, "She'll be ok, Matt, she just needs time."

"How much time?" Ken interjected. "We are sort of in the middle of Izzy's flat here. And I assume her father will be looking for her."

"Don't worry about that," Matt muttered, "her father's never home. He's right, though, this is Izzy's flat."

"It's not a problem, Matt." Izzy offered. 

"But what if your parents come home?" Matt pointed out. There was a brief silence, broken when Jade said slowly, "We could take her away."

"No!" Caitlyn said suddenly, startling everyone. She was sitting upright, still clutching Baramon, and talking rapidly in Japanese.

"She says she doesn't want to leave, that we need her help, and she wants to stay with us." Ken translated for Adam and Jade.

"Caitlyn, you're sick. Go with them." Matt said gently.

"I'm sorry, Adam. It's not…you wanted to take me to the ship."

"We can help you better from there." Adam said, not getting it.

"But…all the water…" Jade inhaled sharply.

__

"Adam, she's afraid." Caitlyn shut her eyes tightly for a minute. Adam nodded slowly.

"All right, Caitlyn. Do you want to go back to your house?" She shook her head again.

"I wanna stay with Matt."

__

"We need to get the others, Caitlyn. We can't do that here."

"I want Matt." Adam blew out in frustration.

"Matt, she won't come unless you do." Matt blinked.

"Why not?" He turned to Caitlyn. "Kit, what's wrong?" She shook her head. 

"I want to stay with you."

"All right." He glanced up at Adam. "I can come?" 

"Yeah. Hang on to Jade. Jade, the house, not the island." Jade nodded, holding out her hand to Matt. Matt hesitated briefly, then reached out and gripped her wrist tightly.

"Does this hurt?"

"No, it kind of tickles. That's all." There was a flash of light and the four were gone.

"Feeling better?" Matt handed Caitlyn a cup and watched her sip it.

"Urggh, Matt, I don't drink tea any more."

"You need it. Come on, Kit, all of it."

"Aww…" She swallowed the rest of the tea without complaint. Adam smiled faintly from where he was standing near the window.

"How do you do that? She never does anything I ask her to."

"You have to know how to handle her." Matt said. Caitlyn snorted.

"If I didn't drink he'd pour it down my throat anyway. And I do so do stuff when you ask me."

"Like when?" Adam asked, looking up as Jade 'ported back in.

"When you asked me to help you pick Megabyte's birthday present. Hi, Jade."

"You look better."

"I feel better." Jade looked vaguely guilty for a minute, then she wandered into the next room and put on the TV.

"What's she doing?" Matt asked in Japanese.

"Staying out of the way. Not listening to us." Caitlyn answered. Adam's eyes flickered from one to the other of them. Catching the look, Caitlyn 'pathed, _"Is something wrong?"_

"No. What are you saying?"

"It's private." She cut off the link so sharply he winced. Matt nudged her and murmured, "Did you do something to Adam?"

"He's being nosy." she answered, not bothering to keep her voice down. Adam picked up on the tone, even if he couldn't understand her words; flushing slightly, he left the room, keeping Jade company in the sitting room.

"You shouldn't drive them away like that." Matt said, turning to face Caitlyn. She wriggled slightly.

"I don't want them now. I just want you."

"That's the shock. You'll want them again when you're feeling better."

"Maybe. They'll forgive me."

"Adam will. I don't know about the others."

"What _about _Megabyte?" Matt blinked; he never could get used to that.

"Just that he doesn't seem the real forgiving type."

"He's very loyal." Caitlyn defended her absent friend.

"I'm sure he is. If you can earn that loyalty."

"He hasn't told on you, has he?"

"That's because of you, not because of us."

"It's well for you guys that I'm one of you, then." Getting abruptly to her feet, she moved to the window and stood looking out. Matt rose more slowly, watching her.

"Adam?" he called. Adam and Jade came back in.

"What is it?" Adam asked, following his gaze. Matt lowered his voice.

"She's acting…funny. Can you…" he shrugged. "Find out if something's wrong?"

"If she'll let me. She may not…and I can't force her." Adam closed his eyes. Jade watched him for a moment before closing hers, too. Matt barely noticed the two _pops _as Megabyte and Ami arrived.

"Matt, what's going on?" Ami asked.

"Something happened Kit and she's acting…bad. Adam's trying to…" he broke off as Adam collapsed.

"Adam!" Megabyte dropped to his knees beside his friend. Ami caught Jade as her knees threatened to buckle and helped her down. Caitlyn turned, tears running down her face.

"He shouldn't have…I tried to protect him…" Matt, the only person still upright, slowly approached Caitlyn.

"What happened, Kit?" he asked, sticking to English. Caitlyn answered in Japanese, though.

"Someone's in my head, Matt, they won't go away. I was trying to push them out, and Adam was trying to get in and I pushed him by accident." Matt nodded slowly; it sounded plausible, but he wasn't a Tomorrow Person.

"Matt, come help." Megabyte said. Matt backed up and helped Adam to his feet.

"You ok, Adam?" Megabyte asked. 

"Yeah, just…dizzy. You pack some punch, Caitlyn, I'm glad you're on our side." Caitlyn nodded.

"I'm really sorry, Adam. I didn't mean to hurt you…either of you." Jade smiled wanly.

"I'm ok, Adam."

"It's ok, Caitlyn. Accidents happen."

"I shouldn't have…"

"Who's in your head?" Matt demanded in Japanese.

"It's all right, Matt. It's gone now."

"I thought people couldn't get into your head because you're a Tomorrow Person."

"So did I. Maybe I imagined it."

"Maybe." he agreed.

"That thing rattles when you walk, you know." 

Megabyte watched Caitlyn pacing around the room, holding her Digivice in one hand.

"It's supposed to rattle. If I don't hear it rattling, it means I've forgotten it."

"That's bad?" She shrugged.

"Not so much here, but in Japan, yeah."

"Why?"

"DigiDestined tend to get attacked in Japan. I don't think the bad guys have caught on that there are DigiDestined all over the world yet."

"That's good, right?"

"Keeps me safe. How's Adam?"

"Still asleep, I think."

"Still?"

"It's not even dawn on Tapahini yet."

"I guess…" She paced around some more. Megabyte watched her until he got dizzy.

"What's with you? You're not normally this antsy."

"I'm…I dunno. I feel like…something big's gonna happen.

"Where'n'what?"

"Haven't a clue. It just won't leave me be."

"It'll come. Where's Matt?"

"I took him home earlier. His Dad would've missed him." Megabyte watched her pace for another minute before saying slowly, "If you want, I can link with you. See if we can track down what's bothering you?"

"No, thank you." She turned to look at him. "Thank you for the offer, Megabyte, but I really don't want someone _else _messing around in my head right now." Megabyte nodded, unoffended; Matt had told them what she'd said about having someone in her head.

"What about that prophecy thing you were telling Matt about? Could that have anything to do with this?"

"I don't think so. Nothing happened to Cody. He wasn't hurt." 

"How did it go?"

"Something like, the blood of the lamb shall be split through his own fall. It shall rejuvenate the first enemy, and he shall return from his third defeat. They shall not know him, nor stop him, and the worlds shall tremble at his coming."

"Talk about obscure." Megabyte muttered. "So who's the First Enemy?"

"I don't know. The first really major Digimon they fought was Devimon, but they defeated him."

"What about that guy you fought just before you introduced us?"

"Daemon? Yukio?"

"No, the other one, the big one."

"Myotismon? Myostismon." She looked away. "Myotsimon, Venomyotismon, Maloemyotismon. Three defeats…I think you got it, Megabyte!"

"I did? Of course I did! What did I get?"

"Myotismon's been defeated by the Digidestined three times, and every time he comes back. That's got to be it. Where's my D3?" She broke off as her Digivice gave a beep. Pulling it from her belt, she studied the symbols flashing across the screen.

"What's it say?" Megabyte asked, peering over her shoulder.

"Cody…something's wrong. Megabyte, I have to talk to Adam." She put out one hand.

"Why?"

"I need to ask him something. Please, Megabyte, I know you don't trust me but I have to ask him!"

"You shouldn't have called her. She's got problems of her own."

"Caitlyn's DigiDestined, Matt, and she's the only person who knows about this prophecy. Even Gennai doesn't know about it."

"Or won't admit to knowing about it." Tai put in.

"Either way we need to know what she knows." Izzy picked the thread of the conversation back up.

"But she's not herself right now."

"Neither is Cody." Tai pointed out, "and she knows something. We need to talk to her."

"She should be here by now. I sent the message almost an hour ago." Izzy muttered, double-checking his D3.

"Maybe she didn't get it yet." Matt said.

"It says received. Maybe she didn't check it. D'you want to phone her?"

"Izzy, your parents'll go nuts. Even if she doesn't answer the charge will be huge."

"Let it. We _have _to talk to her." Matt shook his head.

"She checks her D3 every hour. If she hasn't picked it up yet she will soon."

"What time is it over there?" Tai broke in. Matt glanced at his watch.

"Almost three in the afternoon."

"So she's not asleep."

"Doubtful."

"Then why isn't she here?"


	5. A Friend in Deed

Ha ha! Just thought I'd torture you a bit. Here's part five. I'm very impressed with myself. Is anyone else impressed? At all? Even a little bit?

A Friend in Deed

__

Please, Megabyte, I know you don't trust me but I have to ask him!

Megabyte stared at Caitlyn.

"What do you mean? Of course I trust you."

"Not as one of you. Not as a Tomorrow Person."

And that was it, of course. He _didn't _trust her as a Tomorrow Person, because he'd never been able to sense her as a Tomorrow Person.

"I do trust you." he muttered, "I just can't sense you."

"I know that, Megabyte, but there's nothing I can do about it! Now please, help me. If Myotismon rises before we can stop him we are in big trouble."

"What can we do about it anyway?" 

"You can't do anything. This is for the Digidestined. Megabyte, help me. Please, I'm too tired to do this by myself." Finally, Megabyte nodded, holding out his hand, palm up. Caitlyn held hers over it, palm down, not touching his.

__

Adam, they both called. _Adam!_

"She definitely should be here by now."

Matt was pacing in Izzy's apartment. Izzy, Tai, Kari, and TK watched him.

"Maybe her Dad's home." TK suggested. "That happened before."

"Once. He's never home, TK, you know that. That's why Adam and the others spend so much time at her house."

"I thought it was 'cos they liked eating all her food." Kari said in an undertone. There was a flash and Adam appeared.

"Adam." Matt said in surprise. "Something bad?"

"No…Caitlyn?"

"Not here. What's up?"

"I don't know. I got a sense…like she was calling me. But it wasn't coming from the house…I've been there." Matt translated rapidly for the others.

"Who was there?" Tai asked.

"No one. It's empty." He shivered unconsciously. "It's cold in the house." Kari stared at him curiously. 

"Can you call her?" Matt asked.

"I've been trying, but Caitlyn…we can't track her, her shields are too strong for us. I can't find Megabyte, either. Ami and Jade are at the ship trying to find them from there."

"Will that work?" TK asked. Kari shook her head as Adam answered, "No, but it'll keep them away from here. If something's going on it'll happen here." Tai jumped as his D3 beeped; turning away from the group, he opened it up.

"Davis. He needs us right now." He looked up at Adam. "I hate to ask, but…"

"One at a time." Adam said quickly. "I can't take all of you, either."

"Tai, TK and me." Kari said before anyone else could speak. "The other two can get Matt's Dad to drive them."

"My Dad's in work." Matt protested.

"He'll be finished soon. Matt, we don't have time to argue this." Kari watched Matt until he nodded, then she turned to Adam. "Take TK first, then come back for me." Adam turned to TK.

"Concentrate on wherever we're going." he said quickly, gripping TK's wrist. TK shot a nervous glance at Kari before nodding, and the pair vanished.

"And you're doing what, exactly?" 

Adam stared at Caitlyn. The other Digidestined appeared to have left…the apartment was empty, and he wasn't picking them up anywhere nearby.

"Looking for you. Where have you been?"

"Around. You weren't planning on teleporting Kari, were you?"

"Why?" Caitlyn shook her head.

"She's pre-TP, Adam, and if you'd teleported her she'd have broken out. We don't want that yet."

"Why not?" Adam was trying his best to ignore the buzzing in his head that had started as soon as he came back into the apartment.

"It'd change the balance. For the First Enemy must be faced as we stand, with the thirteen and the five and the one, no more or less, for in the numbers lie the power. And though they shall not know him, shall they despair, for in the end the twelve and the four shall understand, and through that understanding shall come the end of everything." She smiled at the look on his face. "Digiworld prophecies. Vague to the end."

"You know what it means." He studied her for a minute. "Where are the others? Megabyte, Kari?"

"Safe. They have no part in what's coming."

"What's coming, Kit?" He deliberately used Matt's nickname for her, hoping to startle a reaction from her.

"You weren't listening? The First Enemy. The Blood of the Lamb spilt, and the First Enemy was rejuvenated. He's coming."

"Who is the First Enemy?" When she didn't answer, he 'pathed, _~Who is the first enemy, Kit?~_

~Myotismon. He's coming soon, Adam.~

~How can we stop him?~ She shook her head.

"You can't stop Myotismon. The DigiDestined have tried, time and again. He can't be stopped. He's going to win."

"If they believed that they wouldn't have kept trying."

"I never said _they _believed it."

~_Ami! Jade!~_

"Bad." She pouted. "I didn't invite them. You're mixing it all up."

"Where is Megabyte? Caitlyn, where is he?"

"He's perfectly safe, Adam. Honest he is. He's not going to be hurt." Two flashes lit the room but neither turned to look. Ami came up behind Adam, to one side, and Jade lingered further back. 

"Bring him here." She shook her head.

"I can't." 

"Bring him here."

"I _can't, _Adam."

~_BRING HIM HERE.~ _Adam 'pathed as loud as he could. Ami flinched away from him and Jade made a protesting noise behind, but still neither spoke.

~_I CAN'T.~ _Caitlyn's response was even louder than Adam's had been, and with it came a faint _click _as she blocked their telepathy. Adam stared in disbelief as the hum that accompanied every waking moment vanished.

"Caitlyn…" Ami started.

"Don't. That's enough." Without another word she vanished, leaving three very confused TPs behind.

"Did Caitlyn say what had happened?" Tai asked, trying to keep up with Kari.

"No," his sister replied tersely, "just that we need to get there right away, and she can't teleport us because she's still too tired from Cody…" She cut herself off and hurried into the apartment building. Tai glanced back at Matt, nodded, and followed her. Matt and Izzy were close on his heels as they reached Yolei's apartment.

Inside, TK was talking urgently to Kari, while Davis, Ken, and Yolei stood or sat around the room. 

Of Cody, there was no sign.

"Can you find it on foot?" Jade asked, struggling along behind Adam. Though he'd been in Yolei's apartment, he hadn't been outside.

"Maybe. Be quiet for a minute, Jade." In the corner of his eye he saw Ami frown and hold her hand out to the younger girl. Jade pretended not to notice, but she did take it. Adam stared up at the skyline, looking for familiar landmarks, but everything looked the same and he didn't know where he was going.

"Adam." Ami said suddenly from beside him. Adam followed her gaze and saw Davis racing towards them. As soon as he realized they'd seen him, he screeched to a halt and took off back in the direction he'd come from. Adam glanced quickly at the girls before taking off after him. Jade sighed and looked up at Ami.

"They're going to leave us behind."

"He'll wait for us." Ami said.

"What's going on, Ami? Why did Caitlyn…" she trailed off.

"I don't know, Jade. Come on, we'd better try to catch up."

"Will Davis find them? Adam doesn't know Odaiba, they could be anywhere." Matt was nearly bouncing off the walls.

"He'll find them." Kari, on the other hand, was utterly calm. TK was watching his brother pace.

"Matt, calm down."

"Calm down? Cody's who knows where, and no one can find Caitlyn, and our link with her is wandering the streets somewhere, and on top of that this stupid prophecy…" He cut himself off as the door opened and Davis came in, Adam trailing behind him.

"We lost the girls." Davis reported.

"They're coming." Kari answered. "Ken, go and meet them, please." Ken nodded and slipped out, not questioning why they were following Kari all of a sudden.

"Where's Caitlyn?" Adam demanded. Matt shook his head.

"She told us something had happened to you, that we had to hurry here and you couldn't bring us, and she was too tired." Adam was shaking his head before Matt had finished the sentence.

"She was in the apartment when I got back. There's something _wrong _with her. She kept talking about the prophecy." Matt nodded.

"Izzy thinks it's Myotismon. What exactly did she say?"

"The numbers were important; there were five and thirteen and one, and in the end twelve and four would understand, and when that happened everything would end. But the numbers were important; she didn't want me to teleport you guys because it'd change things."

"What else?"

"Myotismon's the First Enemy, he's coming soon, and he can't be beaten." Matt looked at him in surprise.

"_Kit _said that?"

"Matt, what?" Tai said from behind him. Matt turned to translate as Ken came in with Jade and Ami.

"Something's wrong. Caitlyn's never pessimistic like that." TK said, barely noticing Ken as he translated.

"We know something's wrong, TK, she's just more or less kidnapped Megabyte."

"But if the numbers are so important why would she be trying to change them?" Tai asked.

"She's trying to make sure they don't change." Kari said quietly. "She's trying to protect Megabyte."

"We could have done that." Jade protested. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"Running comes to mind." Caitlyn was standing in the doorway. Ignoring all their questions and exclamations, she pointed towards the window. "Seriously. Running. Right now." Everyone turned to look out, all except Adam and Kari. Both of them moved closer to Caitlyn, who flinched under the twin stares.

"Ok. We have to go." Tai declared, pushing through the group. "Izzy, come on, we have to go." Matt nodded, taking Ami and Jade by the arms.

"Come on, girls. Adam, we have to go."

"I know." Adam agreed. Caitlyn didn't move until Tai nudged her, then she turned docily and left with the group.

Outside the rest of the Digidestined appeared; Sora, and Joe: Davis and Yolei. Cody was still missing.

"Where's Megabyte, Caitlyn?" Jade demanded, not listening as the Digidestined began an urgent huddle.

"Safe." Caitlyn answered.

"Safe where?" Ami pressed.

"In a safe place. You can't have him back yet."

"Why not?" Adam asked. Caitlyn flinched again.

"Myotismon's a fear demon, and Megabyte has the most to fear. We don't need him yet."

"And Cody?"

"That's not got to do with me. He doesn't want to be here."

"But you know where he is." Ken said quietly.

"Yes, I do."

"Why did you block us?" Adam asked next, cutting off Ken.

"For the same reason as I sent Megabyte away. The Digidestined have fought Myotsimon before, and it wasn't any good then. We don't need you guys incapacitated with their fears and hurts." Adam struggled to follow her reasoning.

"You could have just warned us." Jade suggested.

"No, I couldn't. It wouldn't have done any good, Jade, you can't imagine what this guy can do. I'd send you away now if I thought you'd go."

"We won't." Adam said quietly.

"Maybe we can help." Ami added. Caitlyn nodded.

"I thought you might say that. Excuse me for a minute." Disappearing with a _pop, _she came back gripping Meagbyte's wrist. Carefully disentangling herself, she backed up slightly. Megabyte swayed a little, prompting concerned Megabyte-are-you-oks from the other Tomorrow People.

"Yeah, I'm ok." He glanced at Caitlyn but didn't say anything. She turned as Matt spoke up.

"Kit, are you ready?"

"Yeah, Matt." To the Tomorrow People, "Please stay back. He won't fight you if you don't fight him, so don't come too close."

"We'll be careful." Adam promised. Nodding, she turned and joined the Digidestined.

"You with us?" Tai asked without looking at her.

"Yes."

"Where's Cody?"

"Somewhere else." Now he did turn to look at her.

"Can you get him?"

"I know where he is; but he doesn't want to be here."

"Don't we need him?" Izzy asked. "I've worked out what the numbers you gave Adam mean. There's thirteen of us, counting you; and five Tomorrow People, still counting you; and then there's you. You're in the middle, right? So don't we need him, if the numbers are that important?"

"There's thirteen of us whether he's here or not." Caitlyn protested.

"No there isn't. Mimi's not here. Without her we're only twelve, and that's counting Cody." Matt pointed out. Caitlyn muttered something under her breath and vanished, reappearing a moment later with a fairly confused Mimi.

"Izzy, if that's what the thirteen and five and one are, what about the twelve and four?" TK asked urgently. Izzy shook his head.

"I haven't figured that part out yet, TK."

"I have," TK said grimly, "and I don't like the answer I'm getting."

"There must be something we can do to help." Jade said, struggling to see. Without even discussing it, the others were in full 'protect poor delicate Jade' mode and refusing to even let her see what was going on. Adam had already tried to send her back to Matt's apartment at least twice.

"I don't think so." Megabyte said slowly. He hadn't told them where he'd been, but his telepathy wasn't working any more than theirs was. "I think this time we have to just be ready to pick up the pieces."

"Megabyte!" Adam said sharply.

"What? I just meant we can't fight."

"Where's Caitlyn gone?" Ami said suddenly.

"There she is." Megabyte said, pointing. "She went to get…that's the American one, right? Youyou?"

"Mimi." Jade corrected him. "Her name's Mimi, and she's not American, she just lives there." 

"Same difference. What are they doing?" Beams of light were shining all over the place.

"They're trying to do what they did last time." Megabyte realized. "Last time they defeated him with light."

"It's not working this time." Ami noted almost clinically.

"No, it's not." Adam agreed. "Let's all move back a bit." The group turned and regrouped half a block further away from the fight.

Out of the corner of her eye, Caitlyn saw the group move, and was surprised at the regret running through her. Whatever happened now, she knew she'd have problems with the Tomorrow People forever because of her actions in the last couple of days.

"Kit!" She blinked and dodged a blast. Baramon growled and Digivolved, joining the rest of the digimon.

"Sorry?" she offered weakly.

"Pay attention!" Davis yelled at her. Since she was technically part of the second team, Davis was in charge of her during the fight.

"Why is it never the oldest who's in charge?" she asked rhetorically.

"Beats me." Joe said cheerfully from beside her.

"Joe, I didn't even see you there."

"Surprise me."

"Sorry."

"It's ok. I blend in well. Keeps me from getting sho…shit!" Caitlyn grabbed his arm and they both vanished, reappearing a few meters to the left. The ground they'd just been standing on was now a mess of melted concrete. "Uh…thanks."

"No problem. Keep an eye out, though, I might not always be there like that." Joe nodded faintly as she moved towards the thick of the fight. Tygyrmon couldn't fight, but he was in the thick of things, hanging out of Myotismon's legs, arm, chest, or anywhere else he could get a grip, trying to slow him down.

"You go, Tygyrmon!" she heard Jade cheer. "And…uh…all you other digimon as well!" TK grinned at that.

"Still doesn't know the names yet, huh?"

"She's not good with long words ending in –mon." WereGarurumon offered as he ran past. Caitlyn blinked.

"You know, I've never really been very good at this, but that sounded like a very Gabumon-ish thing to say."

"Yeah." TK agreed. 

"Even though he's—uh—WereGarurumon right now."

"The personality's mostly duck! the same, no matter what form they're in." At her look, he grinned. "The long-forgotten art of conversing during a fight."

"A hobby well worth taking up, duck." They grinned and parted company, Caitlyn to find Tai and TK to find Yolei.

"How d'you think it's going?" Jade asked, fidgeting.

"Well, all the digimons are shooting at each other, and all the people are trying to keep out of the way." Ami said.

"Digimon. Not Digimons. Is Tygyrmon fighting?"

"He's not shooting, he's…it looks like he's biting."

"You go, Tygyrmon! And—uh—all you other Digimon too!" Jade blushed under Megabyte's look. "So I don't know all the names. So sue me. I bet you don't know them all either."

"Which one would you like to know?"

"Well since I can't see any of them, it doesn't really matter, does it?"

"You have a point there. Oh well."

"Jade, I really think you should go to Matt's…"

"Try it, Adam. I refuse." Adam shook his head but didn't press it.

"Where do you think Cody is?" Ami said quietly. They were having a brief lull in the fighting, and the Digidestined were regrouping between Myotismon and the Tomorrow People.

"Beats me." Megabyte said, watching closely. "Hiding under his bed, if he's got any sense." Caitlyn glanced towards them, muttered something to Joe who she was once again beside, and jogged towards them.

"He's getting ready." she said without preamble. "He's going to attack us in a minute. As soon as he's done that, I'll lift your blocks." 

"Why not lift them now? Then you won't have to later." Ami suggested. Caitlyn shook her head.

"No. Please, if you ever trusted me, trust me again for a few minutes. I swear, this is the best way." She turned to go back to the fight, and was halted by Megabyte's hand on her arm.

"Is it really that bad?" he asked quietly. She nodded.

"Avoid the attack if you possibly can; it won't affect you quite the same, but it won't be any good for you either." With that she turned and went back to the fight, leaving the four Tomorrow People behind. Megabyte watched her for a moment before turning to the others.

"We should go, Adam. We should get as far away as we can." Ami blinked.

"You believe her?"

"She's not lying. Adam, we should go." Adam nodded, taking Jade's hand.

"Right. Let's go."

"Adaaaaam!" Jade protested.

"Jade, this isn't the safest place to be right now, and we can't teleport away." Megabyte pointed out, coming up on her other side.

"And whose fault is that?" Jade pointed out. "How come you trust her so much all of a sudden? What'd she say?"

"Just…" Megabyte looked back over his shoulder. "Just let's go." 

"Vemon Mist!" As one the Tomorrow People turned, to see Myotismon shooting out thick red smoke. It was the same attack he'd used on the Digidestined in their battle a year or more earlier. The smoke enveloped the Digidestined and kept going, but it dissipated before reaching the Tomorrow People. Megabyte let go of Jade and headed for the mist.

"Megabyte, stop!" Adam yelled.

"We have to help them, Adam!"

"Why?" Ami called.

"Because we're the Tomorrow People!" With that he vanished into the mist. Adam ran his hands through his hair.

"Adam." Jade said, as though reminding him she was there.

"Yes. Ami, Jade, start back to Matt's apartment. No, no argument, Jade. Just go." He turned and headed straight for the mist. The girls watched until he vanished, and then they looked at each other.

"Shall we?" Jade asked.

"Why not?" Ami answered. And together they walked into the mist…


	6. We Stand Together

And we're into part six! I normally don't write this many chapters, but I just felt like it this time. Unfortunately, my attempted take-over of Fox Kids and those people who own the Tomorrow People didn't work, so I still don't own them. The song comes from a very old show called California Dreams, which rocked.

We Stand Together

__

We stand together 

Through thick and thin

We'll be that way 

'Till the bitter end

We'll go on forever

We stand together

The smoke wasn't hard to breathe, just impossible to see through. Jade coughed once out of reflex, waving a hand in front of her face as she tried to see. She'd been separated from Ami almost as soon as they'd entered the cloud, and now she couldn't find anyone.

"Adam? Ami? Megabyte! Where are you guys?"

"Jade?" Caitlyn appeared and ran to Jade's side. "You shouldn't be here, this is…"

"Where's Adam?" Jade interrupted.

"I don't know, I can't…come with me, Jade."

"Where are we going?"

"Out of here. Hang on…" she turned, looking towards her left.

"What is it?"

"It's Matt…I think. Jade, don't move." Before Jade could answer Caitlyn plunged back into the mist, instantly vanishing. Jade hugged her arms, ignoring as best she could the sounds that were becoming louder.

__

"Shield." With a gasp Jade pulled her shields up, as Caitlyn reappeared.

"Where's Matt?"

"Wasn't him. Come on." Catching Jade's wrist she pulled her through the cloud.

"Where are we going, and why can't I hear the others?"

"We're going out of this cloud. If I thought you'd stay I'd take you back to Tapahini myself. You can't hear the others because I have to find them before I can unblock them, and I can't find them." Jade suddenly pulled to a halt.

"Isn't there a big bad Digimon out there?"

"He's…I think he left. This stupid fog, I can't feel anything!"

"Caitlyn?" Both girls came to a halt.

"Was that Kari?" Jade asked. "Why is she speaking in English?"

"I listen to English quicker than Japanese. Jade…"

"Don't tell me to stay. I am not your pet dog."

"My pet dog is very obedient."

"You don't _have _a pet dog."

"Do so…shush." In Japanese, she went on, "Kari? You here?"

"Yeah…" Kari's voice was shaky. 

"Can you move?"

"Uh…"

"Never mind, just keep making noise." She steered Jade carefully towards Kari's voice, and after a moment they met. Kari was sitting on the ground next to TK.

"What happened?" Caitlyn demanded.

"I found him, I don't…." She nodded swiftly.

"Jade, take TK to Tapahini, please." Jade nodded, looking scared, and reached for his wrist. Kari caught her hand and looked at Caitlyn.

"Can we do that?"

"Why not?"

"The prophecy."

"We'll manage. Jade, go." Jade gripped TK's wrist and the pair vanished. "Kari, what _about_ the prophecy?"

"We're all supposed to be here."

"Yes, but even before they left we weren't, because Cody wasn't here."

"What do the twelve and the four mean?"

"I don't know yet, Kari. Come on, we have to find the others."

The Digidestined had mostly managed to stay together when the smoke hit; staying together after that had been harder. Sora had had to talk very fast to keep Tai and Matt from going to find their siblings, and even faster to keep Davis from going looking for Kari. Once they'd agreed it made more sense for them to stay together, she relaxed slightly and everyone looked to Izzy.

"I wonder why we are not experiencing hallucinations, as we did on our last encounter with this attack."

"Maybe it can't find a wedge." Ken suggested hesitantly.

"There's always a wedge." Matt said darkly.

"I can tell you why." Izzy went on.

"Then why did you ask?" Tai asked. Izzy ignored him.

"From what I can tell, some sort of barrier is preventing the attack from reaching us. That's why we can breathe, but not see. The attack is not at full power."

"What kind of barrier?" Matt asked.

"I can't tell. The mist is confusing all my readings." Ken suddenly turned away from the group, looking into the mist.

"Ken, what's up?" Davis asked.

"I thought I heard something."

"Something like what?"

"I'm not sure. It might have been Adam."

"Adam? They weren't anywhere near us." Tai dismissed it.

"I'm sure it's him." Ken protested, and before anyone could stop him he plunged into the mist.

"Ken!" Davis yelled. Matt and Tai grabbed him from either side, preventing him from following his friend.

"Davis, no! We can't afford to get separated!" Tai yelled.

"But Ken's gone!"

"If he could hear Adam, he'll be able to hear us. Just let's keep talking, all right?" Sora said, trying to calm Davis down. He took his responsibilities as leader very seriously, appearances to the contrary, and worried a lot about his team.

"All right." Davis said reluctantly. They waited only a minute before Ken returned, Adam and Megabyte following.

"Where's Caitlyn?" Megabyte demanded as soon as he saw the group.

"We haven't seen her since the attack. Kari and TK are missing too…and we haven't seen Ami or Jade." Matt told them.

"Ami and Jade were going back to your apartment." Adam answered, "and we haven't seen Kari or TK either. That mist, it's weird. It's thick sometimes, then it's thin, then it's thick again."

"It's like it's trying to steer us or something." Megabyte added.

"It might be." Matt said absently. 

"So what do we do?" Megabyte asked.

"Stay with us for now." Then, in Japanese, "Tai, have you noticed something?"

"What?"

"Well, Gatomon, Patamon and Baramon are here, but that's it."

"Yee-esss. Where's Gabumon?"

"Where's Agumon?" Matt threw back.

"Point. Does anyone know where their Digimon is?" Everyone sort of looked sideways at everyone else. "Izzy, find them."

"Now what?" Kari looked around. "It feels like we're going in circles."

"I have a theory." Caitlyn said.

"What?" Instead of answering, Caitlyn took Kari's hand and pulled her into the thickest part of the mist surrounding them. "Caitlyn, I can't see!"

"That's the point. Someone's keeping us away from the others." She changed course slightly, something Kari felt more than saw as they stepped up onto the pavement. It struck her to wonder what was happening outside the mist; there had to be people, and traffic, right? Maybe the police had set up those little barriers, and people were clustered behind them, chattering away. _I heard the Kamiya kids were down here…the Ishida-Takashi brothers…wasn't that Ken boy here, the genius? What did they call themselves again? The Digidestined…_

"…ri? You ok?"

"What?" Kari forced her eyes open. "What happened?"

"You tell me." Caitlyn's eyes were intent. "What happened?"

"I was just daydreaming, I guess." Caitlyn shook her head but didn't press it.

"I have to go for a minute. Don't move."

"Go? Go where?" Caitlyn stepped aside, revealing Ami. Just like TK, she was unconscious.

"Tapahini. I'll be back in a second. _Don't_ move, Kari, or I won't be able to find you." At Kari's nod she took Ami's hand and vanished.

Adam looked up, eyes searching the cloud of smoke. Megabyte did likewise; Davis, noticing, dragged Ken over to translate.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, just someone's teleporting nearby."

"Can you track it?" Davis was intent; whoever was teleporting was one of their friends and deserved help.

"No, Caitlyn's blocked us for now." Megabyte answered. "We can't talk to her, or 'port, not until she unblocks us."

"Why'd she do that?" Ken asked, surprised.

"I know why." Davis said unexpectedly. "She was expecting this time to be like last time, when we all saw things we wanted or were afraid of; and she thought you guys might get hit with it. Right?"

"That's what she said." Adam answered, once Ken had caught up.

"Don't you believe her?" Ken asked.

"I…" Adam broke off as two figures erupted out of the smoke. Three Digimon flew at them; only Patamon was attacking, though.

"Caitlyn! Kari!" Matt exclaimed.

"Jade, TK and Ami are on Tapahini. TK and Ami are hurt, so Jade took him and I took Ami. Sorry, Adam, it was all I could think of."

"Don't worry about it. What happened to Ami and TK?"

"Don't know. They didn't look hurt, just unconscious; Kari said she'd found TK, and she and I found Ami. Shield, both of you."

"What…" Megabyte started, but broke off to put his shields up. Both relaxed slightly as the everyday hum that they rarely noticed returned.

"The smoke makes everything funny. You may not be able to hear properly." Caitlyn said, turning to go find her cousin and explain about TK.

"Caitlyn?" Adam caught her arm. _"I still don't think you were right. But I understand why you did that."_

"I'm not looking for forgiveness, Adam, 'cos I know you can't give it. Just so long as you don't hate me." He laughed slightly.

__

"Never that."

"That's all right then." Smiling, she turned back towards Matt.

"Kit, what happened TK?" Matt asked as she reached him. She shook her head quickly, gathering Baramon up at the same time.

"I don't know. He didn't look hurt, he was just unconscious. But…" 

"What?" he prompted her. "What, Kit?"

"I don't…it's this smoke, I can't read anything. I couldn't hear anything from him."

"What does that mean?" he asked quickly. 

"Nothing, here. Like I say, it's the smoke. No, leave it there, Matt." She turned to look at Tai. "Now what?"

"Do you know where the Digimon are?"

"Not sure. The smoke's blocking me, I can't do anything until it clears."

"Do you know what's blocking the attack?" Tai went on.

"Blocking it?" she repeated. "Who's blocking it?"

"That's what I asked you. Izzy says someone's blocking most of it, and that's why we're not being affected like last time." Caitlyn muttered something in Irish—_Probably all the Irish she knows, _Matt thought—but didn't answer Tai's first question. Tai being Tai, he didn't notice and went on.

"We need to find the Digimon. Kari, can you have Gatomon Digivolve please? You too, Caitlyn. We're going to need those wings." Kari and Caitlyn nodded.

"Gatomon, Armor Digivolve to…Nefertimon, the Angel of Light!"

"Baramon, Digivolve to…Tygyrmon!" The two Digimon took to the skies, bearing their partners. Tygyrmon, the stronger of the two, took Tai as well. Kari gasped in surprise as she saw the scene below was exactly as she had imagined it.

"Kari, what's wrong?" Nefertimon asked, hearing the gasp.

"Nothing, Nefertimon. Just…look, the smoke hardly covers any space at all. I'm surprised we all got lost so easily."

"It may have been bigger earlier," Tygyrmon spoke up, "those barricades are very far back right now."

"He's got a point." Tai agreed. All five looked down as Tai and Kari's names were called from down below.

"Mom!" Kari said in surprise.

"Auh, she always comes to the fights!" Tai complained. "Can we go down, Tygyrmon?" Tgyrmon complied.

"She cares about you." Caitlyn said quietly. "My dad doesn't know I'm Digidestined or a Tomorrow Person, and he wouldn't care if he did."

"I bet he would. Anyway, if he's watching the news he'll know now." He gestured at the news cameras that were focused tightly on them as they landed. Tai hopped off Tygyrmon's back and went to talk to his parents, while Caitlyn stayed where she was.

__

"Jade?"

"Caitlyn. What's going on? I've been trying to call you for ages."

"The smoke's blocking us, but I'm outside it right now. Listen, I don't have long. How are TK and Ami?"

"TK's ok, and I think he wants to get back to you guys. Ami hasn't woken up yet."

"I'll come and get TK in a minute. Just let me say it to Kari."

"OK." Breaking the link, Caitlyn urged Tygyrmon up again, catching up to Kari who was still hovering above them.

"Kari, I'm going to Tapahini to get TK. I'll be back in a minute, ok? Tell Tai for me."

"Ok."

"Tygyrmon, will you go back down and pick up Tai?"

"What will you do when you get back?"

"I'll bring TK straight to the others. With Adam and Megabyte there I can find them ok. Just bring Tai back when he's done." With that Caitlyn vanished.

"Jade?" Caitlyn frowned, surveying the interior of the Ship.

"In here." TK's voice was coming from her left, so she turned and followed it. The three were sitting in one of the little niches off the main room.

"TK. Feeling better?"

"Yeah. What's happening in Odaiba?"

"Nothing much. Myotismon seems to have vanished; Izzy's trying to find him now, and Tai's dealing with the press."

"There's press?"

"Yeah. Anything, Jade?"

"Nothing. She's not hurt, but she just won't wake up."

"Give it a little while yet. I'll check in when I can, and so will the others. Come on, TK."

"Thank you, Jade." TK said carefully, in English. Jade smiled.

"No problem."

Tai and Kari had made it back to the main group when TK and Caitlyn reappeared.

"TK! You ok?" Matt asked.

"I'm fine, Matt. I think I ran into a lamppost or something." He turned his head, revealing a bruise on the side of his face.

"Ouch." Sora inhaled sharply, examining the bruise. "Does it hurt?" TK shrugged.

"It's kind of stiff. No biggie."

"Adam?" Caitlyn called. "How're you feeling?"

"Fine. Why?"

__

"Want to do a healing?"

"Oh. Who?"

"TK. It's just a bruise, but if you could…"

"Sure." He came over to the group.

"TK, Adam's going to see if he can help, ok? You need to just keep still. It might tickle a bit." TK nodded, turning to face Adam and Megabyte.

"That's some bruise." Megabyte commented. Adam nodded, touching it lightly. TK hissed and he withdrew his fingers.

__

"Kit, it's deep. I think maybe he chipped the bone."

"Can you fix it?"

"Maybe. It'll tire me."

"We got your back, Adam." Megabyte assured him.

__

"Adam, if it'll tire you too much…"

"No, it's ok. I'll do it."

"Thank you." Caitlyn sent him all the gratitude she could, and he smiled back at her.

"OK, TK, we're ready now. Hold still, ok?" TK nodded and turned back towards Adam. Adam held out his hand, lightly covering the bruise; TK hissed again but held still. A soft glow came from Adam's hand, and after a moment it faded; Adam's knees buckled, and Megabyte and Matt caught him and helped him sit down. TK gingerly touched his face, smiling when he encountered nothing worse than skin.

"We could have used that five years ago, huh?" Tai said to Kari, who nodded quietly.

"Caitlyn?" Caitlyn looked up at the younger girl, whispered something to Adam and rose to her feet. Taking Kari's arm she drew her out of earshot of the group.

"What is it, Kari?"

"I don't know. Why do I feel tingles every time you guys do something?" Caitlyn glanced over her shoulder at Adam. 

__

"Adam, she knows."

"Are you sure?"

"She doesn't know what she knows; but she definitely knows something."

"Y'know, traditionally sentences are supposed to make sense." For his pains Megabyte got 'shut up, Megabyte' in stereo.

__

"You have to tell her."

"I can't, it'll change things and they're not supposed to."

"If she knows something she needs to know everything, or else she's in danger. Explain it to her and get her to promise not to try anything."

"I'll try." Caitlyn's 'voice' was doubtful. Cutting off the contact, she turned back to Kari, who was watching quietly.

"Did he say you could tell me?"

"Some of it. Some of it…it's not time yet. Do you trust me?" Kari didn't hesitate to answer. "Yes." 

"Then trust me now. You know what's going on, I know you do. I need your word you'll leave it be for now."

"Why?"

"We have to stay as we are. So many Digidestined, so many Tomorrow People. Any change in that is fatal. That's why Cody's not here, and why Megabyte wasn't. They're vulnerable. You are, too, but in a different way."

"Tell me what's happening." Caitlyn shook her head.

"You know, Kari, I know you do. Think. The Dark Ocean. No one else could have heard the Scubamon."

"I wish I hadn't." Kari muttered.

"I know that. A lot of people do. Did you ever wish you weren't Digidestined? Think carefully before you answer."

"I don't have to think about it." Kari said quietly. Caitlyn nodded.

"I wish I could tell you, Kari. But I know what will happen if we lose. And if you…" she gestured vaguely. "…we'll lose. So please promise me."

"I promise. Until after we kick Myotismon's butt."

"Until then." Caitlyn smiled.

"Caitlyn?" Kari glanced at Adam for a moment, then back at her. "Is it worth it?"

"Oh yes, Kari. It is."

"Ready?"

Tai stepped forward, looking to his left. Matt stepped into line; on his left, Sora stood. On her left was Joe; on his left was Izzy; and on his left was Mimi. Matt glanced down the line and nodded to Tai.

"We're ready." Tai acknowledged Matt before turning to his right. Kari moved into place; beside her was TK; on his right was Yolei; a tiny gap beside her spoke of Cody, and beside it was Davis; on his right was Ken.

"We're ready, Tai." Kari said. Tai nodded again and looked further down. Beside Ken was Caitlyn; beside her was Adam; beside him was Megabyte; Jade stood beside him, and last of all was Ami. She'd woken only a few minutes ago and insisted on coming back to the fight.

"We're ready, Tai. We stand together, right?" Caitlyn said.

"To the end." Twelve Digimon stepped in front of their partners.

"Your end won't come today." WarGreymon proclaimed.

"We're ready to fight!" Garurumon said.

"We'll protect you!" Gatomon said cheerfully.

"That's what we're here for." Tygyrmon said quietly. Unexpectedly, Caitlyn broke the line to fling her arms around Tygyrmon's neck.

"Tygyrmon, be careful, please…all of you, be careful. Watch out for each other."

"We will." Angemon said. Every Digimon turned to look at his or her partner; then they moved, breaking the lines as the flying ones took to the air, hovering over their friends on the ground. Tai nodded once more before holding out his Digivice.

"We're ready for you, Myotismon! Come and get us!" The Crest of Courage shone on his chest. Along the line, the kids all lifted their Digivices or D3's. Crests shone all along; Matt's Friendship, Sora's Love, Joe's Reliability, Izzy's Knowledge, and Mimi's Sincerity. The Chosen shone with the Digieggs that symbolized their Crests, and Caitlyn's Future shone at the end. 

Mrs. Kamiya held her breath. On one side of her, Jim Kido stood, watching what was going on closely. On her other side, her husband stood, and beside him was Mr. Ishida. Beside Jim was Mrs. Takashi, and behind them was Izzy's mother, Mrs. Izumi. Standing with her were Ken's parents, Yolei's mother, and Cody's grandfather. Davis and Sora's parents hadn't arrived yet.

When Myotismon appeared she reflexively took a step back, even though they were far enough back that he wouldn't even notice them. Tai had made sure of that before allowing them to stay. 

"Where is Cody?" Mr. Hino asked, looking up and down the line. Mrs. Kamiya shook her head.

"He hasn't been here at all. No one seems to know where he is." Jim gasped as Caitlyn disappeared, along with Davis, leaving TK to direct the Chosen's Digimon.

"Where did they go?" he said, a little shakily.

"They've been doing that on and off for a while now. Normally they come back pretty soon." Mr. Ishida said.

"Maybe they've gone to get Cody." Mrs. Izumi offered.

"Didn't you say no one knows where he is?" Mr. Hino asked, not taking his eyes from the fight. Everyone in the group winced as Garurumon took a blast and collapsed, watching as Tai help a struggling Matt back from the fight.

"Stop it, Matt! You can't help him if you get yourself killed! WarGreymon!" The huge dinosaur Digimon moved in front of Garurumon, protecting him from any further hits while he shook off the blast and got back to his feet. Unexpectedly, MagnaAngemon was also there, providing extra cover for the wolf Digimon to gain his feet.

"Thanks, TK!" Tai yelled an acknowledgment, glancing once at the group of parents before turning back to the fight. With the exception of Caitlyn, the Tomorrow People had been detailed to protect the parents and family of the Digidestined, and he knew they would.

"Where is Caitlyn, anyway?" he asked the group at large.

"She and Davis went to try and find Cody." Izzy answered, not looking up from his laptop. 

"I thought she knew where he was."

"She does, or did, anyway. Davis went along to try and persuade him to fight. Without Cody, we're short one DNA Digimon." Tai nodded and turned his attention back to the fight.

"Cody, we know you're here." Davis scratched his head.

"Why is he hiding here?" 'Here' was Yolei's convenience store, shut down now as her parents were watching the fight. 

"He didn't think we'd look for him here. Cody, open the door or I'll do it for you." There was a pause, then the lock turned and the door opened. Caitlyn went in, followed by Davis.

"Cody? You here, dude?" Davis peered around the shelves and finally spotted Cody sitting cross-legged under the counter.

"He won't talk to me." Armadillomon fretted. "All he does is sit there."

"It's ok, Armadillomon. Don't worry any more." Caitlyn hushed him, looking to Davis. The boy nodded and slid to the floor near, but not quite beside, Cody.

"What's up, Cody?"

"Did you beat him?"

"Not yet, buddy, that's why we're here. We need your help."

"But this is all my fault. I let him come here."

"No, you didn't."

"I did! Don't you remember? The Blood of the Lamb? If I hadn't fallen, he wouldn't be here."

"If I hadn't broken out, he wouldn't be here either. What's your point?" Caitlyn asked.

"It's all my fault!"

"No it's not, Cody. The only way it becomes your fault is if you sit here and do nothing to stop him. _Then _it's your fault." Caitlyn blinked at Davis, taken mildly by surprise. Cody just stared straight ahead. "Come on, Cody, we need you! We can't do this without you." Davis tried again. Cody blinked slowly.

"You…need me? Why?"

"We need everyone. Cody, our strength lies in our team. In the way we support each other, no matter what. We can't do that if some of us are hiding under counters, now can we?" Caitlyn's voice was gentle, despite the mild rebuke. Cody nodded slowly.

"I…I understand…"

"Good. Are you coming?" Davis asked. Cody nodded, easing himself to his feet.

"Are you ready, Armadillomon?"

"You bet I am. Just point me at the bad guy. We'll show him what for!" Cody laughed at that.

"All right! Let's go!" Davis cheered. Caitlyn laughed at the pair, even as she reached for their hands.

"Nice of you to show up!" Yolei snapped as they reclaimed their places. "We're nearly losing here!"

"Positive thoughts Yolei!" Caitlyn called from her spot down the line. Ken grinned at that. Everyone knew Yolei was pleased to see them back, she just didn't want to show it.

"Good to have you back, Cody." TK called down. Cody smiled shyly, engaged in Digivolving Armadillomon. 

"Everyone ready?" Tai called. A chorus of yes's rose from the line, echoed moments later from the Digimon. "Then let's show him what we're made of! Take it up a notch, guys!"

"Let's cover them!" Davis added. The Chosen Digimon fell back, providing cover for the others. Garurumon and WarGreymon DNA Digivolved to form Omnimon; Kabuterimon became MegaKabuterimon, Ikkakumon became Zudomon, Togemon became Lilymon, and Birdramon became Garudomon.

"Your turn!" Omnimon called, and the Chosen Digimon settled to the ground as the others took over. Veemon and Stingmon became Imperialdramon. Angemon and Ankylomon became Shakkoumon. And Gatomon and Aquilomon became Sylphymon. Tygyrmon stayed as he was, since he didn't have a Digivolving partner.

"Yeah! Now we'll show him what we're made of!" Davis cheered.

"Right!" Ken yelled.

"Go get 'em, Omnimon!" Tai called.

"You too, Garudomon!" Sora added.

"Don't miss the party, MegaKabuterimon!" Izzy agreed, actually looking up from his laptop. 

"Let's go, Lilymon!" Mimi cheered.

"Come on, Zudomon!" Joe put in his bit.

"Shakkoumon, you rule!" Cody yelled.

"Sylphymon!" Kari cheered.

"Let's show 'em what a Champion can do, Tygyrmon!" Caitlyn yelled. _"Adam, how are you doing?"_

"He hasn't even looked this way. We're fine."

"Good, because you may need to move them. Keep on your toes."

"We're ready." Caitlyn broke the connection and turned back to the fight.

Jade bounced on her toes, watching. The other TPs were too busy to pay much attention to her, so she was finally getting to watch a fight.

It wasn't as good as she'd thought it would be. It was a lot of bright lights and Japanese yelling, none of which she could hear even if she'd understood. Megabyte had a very basic vocab, and he was keeping them up to date as much as possible, but most of their information came from Caitlyn, when she could spare the time to 'path them. Only one person she'd met so far spoke English, and he only spoke a little. He'd introduced himself as Jim Kido, so she assumed he was related to Joe.

"Megabyte, what's happening now?" Megabyte shrugged. He was engaged in melting or disrupting as many cameras and recorders as he could.

"They're fighting, Jade. What does it look like?" Ami shot him a dark look, but-trying to persuade Yolei's mother to move back while not knowing any Japanese-didn't spare the time or concentration to speak. Adam, who was doing his best to keep the Kamiyas in line, didn't even spare him a look. 

"I can see that."

"Then don't ask. I'm kind of busy here." This time Adam did look up, 'pathing privately to Jade, _"Are you ok?"_

"Yeah."

"He's just worried right now. He didn't mean it."

"I know. I wish I could help more."

"You're doing fine. Don't worry about it." With that he cut the link and turned back to the Kamiyas, who'd now been joined by Davis' and Ken's parents and were making a concerted effort to get to their children.

Caitlyn glanced up, ducked a stray blast and looked for Tai.

"Tai, some of the parents are trying to get past Adam!"

"Dammit! I told them already they have to stay there! Who is it?"

"The Kamiyas, the Itchijoujis, and the Motimiyas. Oh…and Mr. Ishida."

"Matt!" Tai turned, looking for his friend. 

"What is it?"

"go persuade the parents to stay where they are. Adam's having problmes."

"Take Tygyrmon," Caitlyn added, "we can probably spare him the best." Matt nodded.

"You ok?" he asked in English.

"I'm fine, Matt. I'm not actually fighting, so I'm ok."

"You look pale."

"I'm trying to insure your lives here. It's slightly stressful. Tygyrmon." She broke off as her Digimon came to a halt beside her. "Take Matt over to where the parents are, please. Don't be mean, but we _have _to get them to stay where they are."

"I got it." Tygyrmon assured her, crouching so Matt could climb on his back.

"Hang on tight, Matt. Tygyrmon wasn't made for riding." She advised him. He nodded and clung on as tight as he could.

"Good luck!" Davis called from nearby.

"I think I'll need it." Matt muttered as Tygyrmon leaped straight up before turning towards the parents.

Jade eeped and teleported backwards a few meters when Tygyrmon landed in the spot she'd been standing. Matt slid off the Digimon and addressed the parents around them. Megabyte translated as best he could.

"We need you all to stay back here. You can't come any closer to the fight." Several parents pushed forward, yelling objections, and Jade found herself crushed between Joe Kido and Mr. Ishida. Matt overrode all the objections and went on. "We can't fight if you're going to be in the way. Please, trust us. Our friends here are helping us by keeping you safe, so please listen to them." He added something else Jade didn't hear, and Adam and Megabyte raised their hands, followed almost instantly by Ami. Jade didn't bother raising hers; no one could see her right now anyway. "Please, trust us once more like you did before. Last time this happened you trusted us to know what was right. We need you to do that again." He glanced over his shoulder as Tygyrmon shifted. "I need to get back now. Dad, please promise you won't go near the fight again." Mr. Ishida nodded, reluctantly. "Mr. Kamiya? Mrs. Kamiya?"

"We won't." a woman's voice said, followed almost instantly by a man's. 

"Son, they need you out there. We'll keep everyone here. Tell Tai and Kari…"

"I will, sir." Matt bowed to everyone there and climbed back on Tygyrmon, gripping as tight as he could. A faint murmur of conversation started up as the two turned and headed back towards the fight, and Jade relaxed.

Only to scream as a blast hit Tygyrmon square in the side, and he fell.

And Matt fell.

And they hit the ground together.

And neither of them moved…


End file.
